Dem Senator Insists Iranian General “Most Significant Leader US Has Ever Assassinated”

Though it might sound hard to believe, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy insisted during what we imagine was a hastily-arranged appearance on “the Rachel Maddow Show” Thursday night that Iranian General Qasem Suleimani could be “the most significant foreign political leader the United States has ever assassinated.”

Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has long had designs on joining the Democrats’ Congressional leadership, was likely invited to appear on the show by its producers after news of the assassination, which took place early Friday morning (local time) near the Baghdad International Airport.

A statement released by the Pentagon after news of the attack broke claimed Suleimani was “actively developing plans” to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq when a two-car convoy that he was traveling in was targeted in a drone strike.

During his brief appearance via phone, Murphy told Maddow that “there’s no doubt that Qasim Suleimani was an enemy of the United States…the question tonight is whether Suleimani is a greater threat to the United States as the functional head of the Quds force, or as a maryr.”

He also warned about Iran’s ability to retaliate against US assets in the region.

“The danger here is of course that we are going to get into a conflict in the region that will ultimately accrue to the detriment of US national security interests no matter how we feel about the fact that Suleimani is dead this evening. They have the capability to launch assassination attempts right back at US political leaders, and their proxy forces can threaten US forces and Israel itself throughout the region.”

“They can end up spilling into a set of consequences that ultimately do a lot more damage to US national security interests than the assassination itself cures.”

“There are plenty of grave consequences for our relationship with Iraq, This is a very dangerous moment, this could be the most significant political leader that the US has ever assassinated.”

Murphy also threw in some criticisms, claiming “you can’t do this with Congressional authorization” (though it looks like President Trump just did) and some pundits have been discussing the possibility of the House using this as the basis for a third article of impeachment.

Murphy, of course, wasn’t the only Democratic power player to weigh in on the assassination. The four remaining top presidential contenders have all published comments essentially saying the same thing: That Qasem was a bad actor in the region, but that Trump’s decision to do something about it was still wrong.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s statement got the most attention after he accused Trump of tossing “a stick of dynamite into a tinder box”.

My statement on the killing of Qassem Soleimani. pic.twitter.com/4Q9tlLAYFB

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 3, 2020

Elizabeth Warren warned Soleimani was a “murder, responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans” but added that his assassination will “increase the likelihood of more deaths and new Middle East conflict.”

Soleimani was a murderer, responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans. But this reckless move escalates the situation with Iran and increases the likelihood of more deaths and new Middle East conflict. Our priority must be to avoid another costly war.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 3, 2020

And Bernie Sanders accused Trump of breaking his promise to end America’s “forever wars.”

“Trump’s dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars. Trump promised to end endless wars, but this action puts us on the path to another one,” he said in a tweet, while also managing to bring up the fact that he voted against the War in Iraq.

When I voted against the war in Iraq in 2002, I feared it would lead to greater destabilization of the region. That fear unfortunately turned out to be true.

The U.S. has lost approximately 4,500 brave troops, tens of thousands have been wounded, and we’ve spent trillions.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 3, 2020

Trump’s dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars.

Trump promised to end endless wars, but this action puts us on the path to another one.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 3, 2020

As for Pete Buttigieg, he hadn’t yet tweeted a statement on the attack as of 8 am ET.

Fortunately, Murphy’s brief appearance on Maddow isn’t the only reason we’re talking about Murphy this morning.

In a hilarious example of Dems committing flagrant acts of hypocrisy while condemning the Trump Administration for carrying out such a bold and potentially “game changing” attack, conservatives are pointing out that Murphy – a Democratic Senator who is known for his hawkish foreign policy views – was practically begging for an attack like this just two days ago in a tweet that he and his social media team have somehow not yet deleted.

Two days apart. It really is sad what partisanship is doing to people.

First @ChrisMurphyCT complains that we are impotent and just praying for the bad guys to go away, then he declares it was wrong for us to take out the worst bad guy in the region.

Shameless. pic.twitter.com/yrX2UfOswf

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 3, 2020

What a difference two days during a holiday-shortened week can make…