Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, has criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., for calling the recent airstrike that killed an Iranian general a “distraction,” saying that it was appropriate retribution for the recent incident at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
A U.S. airstrike Thursday killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, and several others at Baghdad International Airport after members of an Iran-supported militia stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.
“So what if Trump wants war, knows this leads to war and needs the distraction? Real question is, will those with congressional authority step in and stop him? I know I will,” Omar tweeted late Thursday night, not long after the strike took place.
“This happened in Iraq against an enemy that attacked us in Iraq, in which we have plenty of authorization to be operating in,” Crenshaw told Fox News' “Fox & Friends” on Friday.
“Iran attacked our base recently. Then, they attacked our embassy or they fully supported the Shia militias that did attack our embassy and base," he added. "Are we supposed to just let that happen? And to say yes would be absurd, and I don’t understand when Americans became so fearful.”
Crenshaw said that lawmakers have to "disabuse ourselves of this notion that we should simply continue to take punches," and criticized anyone who apologized for the killing of "a man who has killed Americans.”