The United States was "fully justified" in interrupting Iran's continuing escalation of hostilities by killing its top Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Rep. Dan Crenshaw said Tuesday.
"If we look back even just a few years, the Iranians have been escalating dramatically and systematically as well," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "It started with seized oil tankers. Attacks on Saudi oil facilities. Remember, they embarrassed our U.S. Navy by actually capturing a number of sailors and posting that all over the internet."
The moves went on to shooting down U.S. drones and attacking bases and "actually confronting and attacking our embassy," said Crenshaw. "We have to be careful with our terminology. Iranians are not talking about responding. They are talking about continuing to escalate. We are the ones who had to respond to that."
Democrats, however, are using "overheated terminology like World War III, when they know that is completely dishonest," he added.
"There isn't a false choice between doing nothing and continuing getting punched in the face and a World War III ground war," said Crenshaw, who has served as a Navy SEAL. "There is a lot in between and they know that, but they are being dishonest and trying to, you know, spin everybody into a tizzy just to get the point across."
Crenshaw also criticized Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for calling the Soleimani strike an "assassination."
"Legally speaking, Bernie is way off base here," he said. "It's not considered assassination if it's a general military target. In this case, a military target that is also in charge of a designated terrorist organization who is actively committing attacks against us."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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