MSNBC host Chris Matthews compared the impact of Iranian general and terrorist leader Qassem Soleimani's death to the deaths of Princess Diana and Elvis Presley on Wednesday.
The Pentagon defended the strike President Trump ordered because Soleimani was in Iraq to carry out more attacks against Americans. Iranian-backed militias were under Soleimani's orders to attack the American Embassy in Baghdad on New Year's Eve.
Soleimani and his Quds Force are responsible for over 600 U.S. military deaths and thousands of civilians deaths in the Middle East.
"Let me ask you about what we should have done, and I’ll go back to the Congressman on this. You know, when some people die, we — you know, you don’t know what the impact is going to be. When Princess Diana died, for example, there was a huge emotional outpouring. These kinds — Elvis Presley in our culture. It turns out that this general he killed was a beloved hero of the Iranian people to the point — look at the people," Matthews said.
"We have pictures of it now. These enormous crowds coming out. There is no American emotion in this case, but there is a hell of a lot of emotion on the other side. Should our leaders know what they’re doing when they kill somebody?" he asked.
Matthews' show aired photographs of the large crowds that came out to mourn Soleimani's death. What Matthews neglected to mention was how the Iranian regime forced its citizens to go out and grieve for propaganda purposes.
Iran's response to the strike was to launch multiple ballistic missiles at military bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed.