Don Jr. Blasts MSNBC for Hoping Iranian Attack Would Kill American Soldiers
Don Jr. Blasts MSNBC for Hoping Iranian Attack Would Kill American Soldiers
Volume 90%
By C. Douglas Golden
Published January 9, 2020 at 7:35am
I understand the desire to be first with information.
But that desire probably shouldn’t include, at least if you’re in Western media, the parroting of Iranian state-run media. This is especially true if the story in question involves Iran’s attacks targeting U.S. forces.
That’s exactly what MSNBC got called out for by many — including Donald Trump Jr. — in the wake of Iran’s reprisals.
As it turns out, the missile attacks against bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq turned out to claim no lives, American or otherwise. However, Iranian state media immediately jumped into the void to make wild claims about how the attacks had killed between 30 and 80 of our soldiers.
That Iran would know and announce before our own sources how many of our troops were killed when they lobbed 22 missiles Iraq’s way seems odd — if almost laughable — on its face.
Repeating it might be necessary if just to say that this is what Iranian state media was saying. It should also be repeated with the caveat that Iranian state media is in the business of lying on behalf of the Iranian regime.
For instance, in full disclosure, I cited the 80 U.S. deaths figure in an article while noting that the U.S. had not reported any casualties and that “[g]iven the relative trustworthiness of the two sources, I’d say the latter is much, much closer to the truth.”
So, when this got reported on MSNBC, it’s easy to see why there was some level of incredulity:
twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1214757820790296576
That’s NBC News’ Tehran bureau chief, Ali Arouzi, talking about the Iranian state media claim.
Yes, he said “this bit I’m not sure about.”
As a preface goes, that’s fairly weak stuff. When citing Iranian state media, you should say something like, “well, they’re usually full of garbage” or “this is coming from the official mouthpiece of the regime,” not “this bit I’m not sure about.”
Furthermore, it ends with: “But we have just stepped over the precipice, Chris. We have entered a very unpredictable time. We have to see what the response will be from the United States.”
A longer clip of Arouzi reveals even more problems with his appearance: