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May 4, 2015 4:00 pm - NewsBehavingBadly.com

The Straights of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf are a hot spot of turmoil right now because of

…Iran’s seizure at gunpoint of a cargo ship that was traversing the strait this week, the United States Navy on Thursday began deploying about a dozen warships there to protect American vessels from possible seizure or harassment. The seized vessel was owned by the Danish company Maersk and registered in the Marshall Islands.

Matthew Continetti, the editor of the Washington Free Beacon, appeared on America’s Newsroom to show that his Conservative knowledge of history is as shallow as his newspaper’s obsession with Kate Upton.  Continetti thinks the situation in the gulf is almost identical to the time period known as The Tanker War (1980-1988).  He equates the current tumult with the Reagan Administration’s interference in the Iran-Iraq War.   This is simply Iran defending their interests in the Gulf.  In America, it would be labeled national defense.

Perhaps Mr. Continetti, son-in-law to Bill Kristol, would care to recall a very disturbing fact of the Reagan Administration:  he was arming both sides of a conflict with disastrous consequences for humanity.

But in 1982, as the Iran-Iraq war escalated, the Reagan administration removed Iraq from the list of nations that allegedly sponsored terrorism. This permitted Reagan to sell Saddam Hussein weapons. And Iraq began a buying frenzy…President George W Bush labeled both countries part of an axis-of-evil. But Bush has never acknowledged the fact that when his father was Vice-president in Ronald Reagan’s White House, Washington was aggressively arming both Iran and Iraq.

Matthew also forgets the Iran-Contra scandal was not remembered as  “secret and involved controversial arms-for-hostages deals in the Reagan administration” but as a disgraceful crime where many of Reagan’s inner-sanctum were indicted on felonies.

Continetti also has a poor grasp of history, as significant events escape his memory.

On July 3, 1988, an American warship patrolling the strait, the U.S.S. Vincennes, shot down an Iranian commercial airliner, killing 290 people. The ship’s crew apparently mistook the plane for an Iranian F-14 fighter.

Had they done that to one of our airliners, you can only imagine what would follow.  He claims, like the Republican talking-points daily memo mandates, that

“The Iranians are approaching the negotiations with Obama from a position of strength,” Continetti said. “Then they’re using that strength to cause trouble in the Persian Gulf, in Yemen, in Iraq, in Syria and so on.”

Always trying to portray the president as week for utilizing diplomacy just makes the GOP war hawks look more transparent. Perhaps Bloody Bill Kristol has lectured him on the benefits of siding with the Military Industrial Complex, and young Matty is trying to please his daddy-in-law?

D.B. Hirsch
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

13 responses to Free Beacon Editor Confuses Reagan’s Crimes With Obama’s Diplomacy

  1. tracey marie May 4th, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    The gop are playing a dangerous game of “let’s pick a fight” with another country.

    • TeapartyCrasher May 4th, 2015 at 5:03 pm

      When do they not? McDonnell Douglas and Northrup Grumman demand a state of perpetual war.

    • thinkingwomanmillstone May 4th, 2015 at 7:38 pm

      They’re playing “let’s make a deal on MIC stock”. They can’t keep their friends at the DOD if they don’t keep increasing their budget.

      • tracey marie May 4th, 2015 at 9:30 pm

        you nailed it.

  2. allison1050 May 4th, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    Brought to you by Continetti: Mwah! to daddy in law’s behind!

  3. Anomaly 100 May 4th, 2015 at 7:02 pm

    The Free Beacon is such a cesspool of stupid.

    • StoneyCurtisll May 4th, 2015 at 7:29 pm

      Indeed it is…
      I just came back from mediate..
      I had to fist fight my way out from a gang jump of right wing bigots…
      That site is over run with lunatics.

      • tracey marie May 4th, 2015 at 9:43 pm

        I bet I am now banned there. I went there friday, gave all the inbred racists a poke and a push, called them losers and told them to have at it. I was done and decided to just go for it.

      • tracey marie May 4th, 2015 at 9:46 pm

        The mods protect them.

        • StoneyCurtisll May 4th, 2015 at 9:47 pm

          but they blocked my last comment I made there…
          Guess I hit a nerve..(didn’t even use a curse word)

          • tracey marie May 4th, 2015 at 9:50 pm

            I did not curse, just called them stormfront, losers, inbred and the like, laughed and pointed at them. I grew weary of the fights. I left politico over a year ago for the same reason

          • bpollen May 5th, 2015 at 6:16 am

            I left Crooks and Liars after they censored a mildly negative comment about Scientology. Apparently I am not “clear” and so must be a “suppressive person” to their mods…

          • tracey marie May 5th, 2015 at 2:04 pm

            They are okay with me, after a mod accused be of being homophobic and warned me I retorted prove it because I never said any such thing. It started threatening me, then a regular stepped up and said, “it was me”. The place gets boring, all the ame people, all the same beliefs and the same fighters.