Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg blamed President Donald Trump for the downed Ukrainian passenger jet over Iran on Wednesday night.
“Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat,” Buttigieg tweeted. “My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight.”
Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat.
My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight. https://t.co/zWaVgWxfdL
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 9, 2020
The Democratic presidential candidate’s thoughts are also on the White House, apparently. U.S. intelligence officials confirmed Thursday that Iran blew Ukraine International Flight 752 out of the sky Wednesday night killing 176 passengers.
The jet was shot down just three hours after Iran’s missile attack on two major Iraqi bases housing American troops in retaliation for the U.S. execution of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iranian Revolution Guard’s elite Quds Force and the world’s most dangerous terrorist responsible for hundreds of American deaths.
In the wake of news of the attack on innocent civilians, Iran Civil Aviation Organization chief Ali Abedzadeh told state media the flight recorder with potential information about the crash, or the “black box,” would not be sent to Boeing.
Iran said Thursday its attacks on the Iraq bases were not intended to kill Iraqi or American soldiers.
Democrats have labelled Trump’s killing of Soleimani “reckless” and have criticized the administration’s intelligence justifying the preemptive execution as weak. Following a Senate intelligence briefing on Iran Wednesday, Republican Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky have joined Democrats in condemning the White House’s moves with Iran.
Administration officials have argued that the take of Soleimani was necessary to protect the United States from an imminent attack while the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was under siege by an Iranian-linked militia.
