There’s been a global chorus of condemnation for the Trump administration’s recklessness following their abrupt airstrike this past week that killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Now, rather than seemingly attempting to constructively engage with those concerned allies like some European countries, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has lashed out at them in a whiny interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity — because that’s the kind of outlandishly petty response that the White House issues to grave issues of global concern now apparently. In short, Pompeo insisted that Europe should just trust the U.S. and fall in line with support for the strike, although the president himself won’t even stop brazenly lying.
On Friday night, Pompeo complained to Hannity:
‘Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wished that they could be. The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well… There was an attack that was imminent that could have killed dozens or hundreds of Americans… This was a good thing for the entire world and we’re urging everyone in the world to get behind what the United States is trying to do, to get the Islamic Republic of Iran to simply behave like a normal nation.’
Again — why is Sean Hannity such a prominent part of these kinds of very consequential foreign policy discussions? Why is he a mediator between the president of the United States and the rest of the world? He’s a professional fearmonger, and that’s about it.
Watch:
Anyway, as Pompeo indicated, the Trump team has really run with the line in the time since the strike that it was somehow necessary to thwart an incoming major attack on U.S. interests. Apparently, considering Pompeo’s remarks, that claim has now morphed into the idea that European interests were in danger as well. However, there’s still a rather glaring lack of evidence for any version of the claim, which — if it exists — would serve as a welcome confirmation that the strike wasn’t just a desperate attempt to distract from Trump’s impeachment.
German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demme has insisted:
‘We are at a dangerous escalation point and what matters now is contributing with prudence and restraint to de-escalation.’
Considering their continued brash defense for their actions, there’s no indication that the Trump administration will actually take that message to heart at any point.
Those concerned about the implications of Trump’s brash behavior aren’t “terrorist lovers,” as was asserted in a recent Twitter post that he retweeted. And they’re not opposed to Iran behaving like a “normal nation,” as Pompeo seems to suggest. In reality — no matter the Trump administration’s claims — the options here aren’t “my way or the highway!”
Following the airstrike, Iran has already promised revenge against the United States, although the exact form that will take remains to be seen. There is a large network of Iranian-backed militias across the United States that could carry out a regime demand for violence against the U.S.
