Free Beacon Editor Confuses Reagan’s Crimes With Obama’s Diplomacy

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.