Iranians flooded the streets of Tehran on Monday for the funeral of slain terrorist Qassem Soleimani, who was killed last Friday by U.S. drone strike. Many Iranians engaged in zealous and almost comical displays of grief and anger, which is the exact sort of behavior one should expect from the subjects of a brutal autocratic regime where outward shows of fealty mean the difference between life and death.
Many in the U.S. press, however, seem to be laboring under the delusion that the shows of anguish are genuine and that Soleimani, a brutal, pitiless murderer, was indeed a dearly loved, “revered” leader in Iran. As a result, American press cheering Kim Jong Un’s sister at the 2018 Winter Olympics is no longer the low point for the U.S. news media in the Trump era.
“Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wept openly at the funeral for Gen. Qassem Soleimani,” the Associated Press reported. “His tears give insight into how the death of the commander killed in a U.S. strike is being felt personally by the supreme leader.”
That is so touching.
ABC News reported, “Mourners attend a funeral ceremony in Tehran for Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike last week. In a rare display of emotion, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cried openly at Soleimani’s funeral.”
ABC’s Martha Raddatz, reporting separately from Iran, said of the funeral and its accompanying protests that they represent a “powerful combination of grief and anger” over the killing of a “man revered by many here.”
The network then broadcast an Iranian who said, “Trump made a big mistake. He killed our hero.”
“Soleimani’s image everywhere. The impact of his death profound. The crowds are massive and emotional,” said Raddatz. “There are many tears here, many signs with Soleimani’s picture on them, but the message is also very clear. These people want revenge.”
“Inside the funeral service, the emotion just as powerful,” she said, adding, “I don’t think people here want an all-out war, but they do want revenge for the death of Soleimani, but the next move is all up to Iran.”
Over at the Intercept, contributor Shaun King said of the ayatollah’s tears, “I cannot overstate how much this matters.”
“Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, the highest ranking cleric, visibly and audibly wept at the funeral of General Soleimani,” he added. “Millions across the entire nation began weeping at the sight and sound of this.”
Then, there is Washington Post national security columnist Missy Ryan, who shared a tweet comparing the crowd size for Soleimani’s funeral to President Trump’s 2017 inauguration crowd, I guess the point being that crowds tend to be larger in countries where attendance is generally mandatory.
A wapo natsec columnist RTing this is why media employers will soon be forced to stop all of you from tweeting anything that’s not a link to your own edited and curated work. pic.twitter.com/Z2CE7XuXJx
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) January 6, 2020
Trump is wrong to call the American news media the “enemy of the people.” But damn if U.S. reporters and commentators don’t act like it sometimes.
