MSNBC political analyst and former Obama administration official Rick Stengel questioned why the United States is aligned with Israel rather than Iran, which he called “the most Western nation” in the Middle East. Though Iranians chant “death to America,” Stengel said, they also “love American movies.”
“Why is it a foundation issue for Trump that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon?” Stengel, who served as an undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs under former president Barack Obama, asked during a Thursday appearance on MSNBC. “Why are we allied with Israel?”
When pressed on Iranians’ “death to America” chants, Stengel recalled a 2014 trip to the country. “I was sitting … at a rally,” he said. “These young guys were chanting ‘death to America.’ … They finished the chants. And two young men came over and said, ‘Are you American?’ I said yes, [and they said,] ‘We want to welcome you to our country. We love American culture. We love American movies.'”
“Iran is the most Western nation in the whole Middle East,” Stengel went on. “We have much more in common with them than a lot of countries that we do have alliances with.”
Stengel’s remarks stand in stark contrast to reality in Iran, where chants of “death to America” are widespread, homosexual activity is a criminal offense punishable by death, and women are legally required to wear head coverings in public.
This isn’t the first time Stengel has come under fire for defending Islamic radicalism. While serving as undersecretary of state, for example, Stengel refused to acknowledge that ISIS’s radical Islamic beliefs played a role in the group’s execution of Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa.
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Author: Matthew Xiao
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