The drama between the United States and Iran escalated rather quickly after Christmas. According to NPR timeline, it started on December 27th.
“Militia group Kataib Hezbollah attacks the K1 military base near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk with rockets, killing an American contractor and wounding several American and Iraqi personnel. Kataib Hezbollah has ties to Iran. It has denied orchestrating the attack.” a few days later on the 29th the president was briefed on the attack. On the 31st the US embassy in Iraq was attacked by Iraqi supporters of Kataib Hezbollah. President Donald Trump tweeted a warning to Iran after shutting down the attack.
See tweet below:
Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
On Tuesday evening January 2nd it was reported that there was a missile strike near the Baghdad airport and reports came in that Soleimani was killed in the strike. Iran has threatened to attack directly attack US military sights. In response to this threat, President Trump has Tweeted that there are 52 strategic targets they have locked on if Iran should retaliate. Today Iraq’s general assembly has voted to have American Troops leave Iraq.
No one seems to dispute that Soleimani was a ‘bad guy and that the world is a better place without him. However, the response about the possibility of escalations to war in the middle east is mixed. Many are cheering for war while others are solemn and some are cow-towing completely to Iran.
Tucker Carlson addressed the issue on his Friday night show.
See video in Tweet below:
Tucker Carlson Going Off on Neo-Cons
— The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) January 3, 2020
“The very people demanding action against Iran tonight…are the very same ones demanding that you ignore the invasion of America now in progress from the South.”
“They’re liars, they don’t care about you, they don’t care about your kids.” pic.twitter.com/8kNllBWtPF
Carlson took a strong position against the actions that the president authorized as well as the celebrating that is coming from War Hawks such as Bolton who was named in the video. This stance didn’t sit will Dennis Michael Lynch and he seemed bothered that Carlson’s monologue was well-received on social media. Lynch states that people were going to take it as “The Bible”. He goes on to say that Carlson is “perfectly aligning himself with Democrats”.
David starts it all off with an “asterisk” as he puts it. He wants his viewers to know he likes Tucker Carlson and they’ve known each other for 8 to 9 years. He speaks about the help that Carlson has offered him and just says Carlson has this very wrong so he will “rip him” with the list he has made on why Carlson is wrong, “an injustice to the President and to you”.
1: Exaggerating the situation:
Lynch Paraphrases Carlson ‘It’s no exaggeration to say next time this show airs we could be engaged in a conflict real conflict with Iran’.
Lynch’s first point exaggeration is the name of the game at Fox its what Tucker is paid for. He adds anyone who knows anything about war knows we won’t be at war with Iran by Monday there is the exaggeration. This leads to the loss of credibility of Carlson with Lynch.
2: No respect for not being Direct:
Not calling President Trump out by name. Lynch states he himself has had to come out against the President and brings up the example of the change in stance on “the dreamers”. He then calls Carlson weak for taking a shot at Bolton and U.S. Senator Ben Sasse(R-NE) and not calling President Trump by name.
3: Defining what is an act of war
Tucker says in his monologue “If Iranians killed our chairman of the joint chief of staff we(American’s) would view it as an act of war.” which is what he eludes to is how Iran views the Solemani’s death. Lynch wants his viewers to know that the killing of the American contractor he views as an act of war.
4: Tucker sounds like a Democrat
Tucker calls people Neocons in his monologue. Lynch wants the views to know he believes Iran is filled with radical Muslim terrorists.
5: Down Playing the threat Solemani posed to American’s in the Middle East.
Lynch believes that Carleson discount’s the threat that Solemani was in the Middle East. Solemani is responsible for hundreds of American’s death and it has been said that he was planning more attacks on American’s in the area. Does it matter where you are killed if you were to be killed by Hezbollah? The question Lynch poses. ”You kill an American you kill an American”
6: Lynch, We do need a presence in the Middle East.
Tucker “We shouldn’t’ even be in these places,” Lynch says we need to be there to protect our allies and Interests using Isreal as his only example. He goes on to say that oil makes the world go round in our global economy and this is another reason we need to be in the Middle East. Lynch then says that Carlson doesn’t even deserve to have a show saying these things.
7: Comparing Iran to Drug Cartel
Tucker Compares the inaction the Government has done with drug cartels in comparison to the action taken against Iran. Lynch states there is no comparison because Iran is a nation-state that is on the path to making Nuclear weapons that two aren’t comparable in his eyes.
8: How does Killing Solemani Make us more secure?
Lynch again calls out Carleson for not naming President Trump in his monologue but saying our leaders instead when asking the aforementioned question. Lynch then says that Solemani was the number one criminal in the world and rhetorically suggests that Carleson go fight in the Middle East to see how it makes them more secure.
9: Troops in the still in the Middle East.
When we get involved in different Middle East conflicts they cost us more than anticipated and America seems to get stuck in the Middle East according to Carlson. Lynch says this is a new kind of war the terrorist don’t play by the rules and leaving the Middle East would only make terrorism grow, giving ISIS and Obama as examples.
10: DC has wanted war with Iran for decades
Lynch brings up again that Carlson didn’t mention the President by name when stating “DC has wanted war with Iran for decades”. Lynch then says that DC doesn’t want to see another 9/11 Lynch then calls him sick.
Lynch lambasts Carlson as soon as he starts in on his list. Calling Carlson a variety of different names. Carlson’s monologue seems to have hit a sore spot for Lynch even with the astrict at the beginning of the thirty-minute retort to a seven-minute monologue. Tensions with Iran have been high between our two countries since the Iran hostage affair of 1979. The President himself has said in the past few days he doesn’t want war. It seems however that Lynch is on the pro-war with Iran bandwagon.
What seems to be missing from Lynch’s opinions is a better sense of where Tucker Carlson is coming from. Carlson isn’t likely taking a stance the way he is for ratings, and whether you agree with him or not, Tucker has been largely consistent on his foreign policy stances. Carlson has also made it clear that he puts nation over profits for large corporations. That may be where Lynch goes wrong when he implies that Tucker is about money. More likely Tucker just wants American money to stay within America’s borders.
There are many opinions out there about the current foreign policy situation and although Carlson does have a lot of influence, he has indeed gone on record as admitting to being an opinion commentator. So to call him fake news when he already claims to be opinionated based on his opinions would be wrong, especially considering the fact that it’s not clear if Tucker has indeed reported any fake news.
