According to the American mainstream media, Qasem Soleimani was “brave,” “bold,” and “inspirational.”

Most Americans were glad to hear that Iranian General and terrorist Qasem Soleimani was killed in an airstrike last week, and with good reason. 

Soleimani was the leader of the Iranian Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), that operates covertly in foreign countries and promotes terror worldwide. For example, the U.S. has accused the Quds Force of providing weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and arming and training the Taliban. The U.S. also believes Soleimani was responsible for the death of 603 U.S. service members killed during the Iraq War.

Despite this, the mainstream media was very upset to hear the news of Soleimani’s death.

On January 7, The New York Times put out a tweet that appeared to be more fitting for Iranian propaganda than an American newspaper. The tweet said: “‘Knowing General Soleimani was out there made me feel safer,’ said a student about the commander killed in an American drone strike. ‘He was like a security umbrella above our country.’” 

In an attempt to top this, The Times then ran an obituary lionizing Soleimani as a “master of Iran’s intrigue and force.” 

Time Magazine was concerned that children might be upset about Soleimani’s death and tweeted out a guide to help parents discuss the topic with their children. “If you need help talking with the children in your life about the aftermath of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani’s killing, we have a guide to explaining the topic,” it said.

The magazine Foreign Policy went so far as to call Soleimani a “hero.” “While Qasem Soleimani was a bogeyman for the United State, he was seen as a heroic patriot by many of Iran’s political factions,” the paper tweeted.

Then AP News tried to show the empathy of Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei by running an article titled, “Iranian leader’s tears a sign of respect for slain general.” 

One particularly damning montage of the media’s coverage of Soleimani’s death showed the mainstream media calling him a “war hero,” “no ordinary general,” “a national hero,” “personally brave,” “loved by the troops,” “a revered figure,” “smart, charismatic, strategic, ruthless and bold,” “inspirational,” and “a military genius.” 

Was this Iranian state television? No. These descriptions were provided by CBS This Morning, NBC Nightly News, and CNN.

This attitude of mourning towards Soleimani’s death by the media is shocking not only because of his past actions, but also because of what his future plans were. According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s decision to take him out saved American lives.

In an interview on Fox News, Pompeo said, “There was an attack that was imminent that could have killed dozens or hundreds of Americans. They were referring to it as ‘the big attack.’ The American people can know that the decision that President Trump made to take Qasem Soleimani down saved American lives.”

But this direct assertion hasn’t stopped some in the media from questioning President Trump’s decision. Mehdi Hasan, a columnist for the liberal paper The Intercept, appeared on CNN with Jake Tapper to express his doubt in the intelligence that Pompeo provided. Hasan asked sarcastically, “Where is the imminent attack? How does killing Soleimani stop an imminent attack? Was he wearing a suicide vest when they killed him?” 

The take down of Soleimani was carried out after he ordered the raid on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. This raid led to President Trump’s decision to eliminate Soleimani. It’s not difficult to believe that the guy responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans during the Iraq War was planning an attack on Americans. 

All this goes to show that the mainstream media is in a sorry state. 

Now this isn’t the first time the media has been criticized for mourning the death of terrorists. You’ll remember the now infamous Washington Post headline that grieved ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death at the hands of American forces by describing him as an “austere religious scholar.”

The mainstream media often decries President Trump’s description of them as “the lamestream media” who produce “fake news.” But when they run propaganda for Iranian terrorists, it doesn’t seem they have much to complain about. 

Additional Information: 

Revealing the Liberal Bias of the American Media 

The Washington Post Believes Everyone Can Become Pregnant

American’s Trust in the Mainstream Media Continues to Fall

 

You can follow this author on Twitter @MettlerZachary