The liberal media gave Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar a pass yet again this week after she was criticized for making more offensive, unpatriotic comments. In a resurfaced 2017 tweet that went viral Monday, Omar attacked American troops who died in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu (told in the book/movie Black Hawk Down) as killers. One of the few liberal media outlets to actually talk about the backlash Omar received was Newsweek, and they only did so to defend her outrageous comments.
Several people on the right, including Donald Trump Jr. criticized Omar on Twitter. Trump actually called out the media for letting Omar off the hook for saying, “American forces” were responsible for killing “thousands of Somalis” with the hashtag, “#NotTodaySatan:”
Is the media going to ask every Democrat if they agree with Ilhan Omar that American troops are killers?!? https://t.co/oTknkE0Uf0
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 22, 2019
Newsweek instead, decided to bash Trump Jr. for calling out Omar, saying he “says” Omar “thinks American troops are killers:”
Donald Trump Jr. says Ilhan Omar thinks "American troops are killers" https://t.co/OUb4AHb7Ub pic.twitter.com/1p7dXpkESq
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 23, 2019
Actually, he was just quoting what she said. But Newsweek tried to frame him as the one in the wrong. In the linked article, writer Callum Paton avoids actually critiquing Omar, even going so far as to defend her last controversial 9/11 comments, claiming they were “edited” and “out of context.” The problem is, there really is no context where what she said is acceptable in either instance.
However, over at Fox News Channel, several of the primetime hosts criticized Omar’s comments. Tucker Carlson had one Black Hawk Down combat veteran Kyle Lamb on to give his side of the story:
‘Black Hawk Down’ combat veteran Kyle Lamb responds to Ilhan Omar’s attack on U.S. troops. https://t.co/08ZT0EaASl
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) April 24, 2019
Lamb also slammed Omar in an op-ed for her “disgusting” statement, which spun the U.S. troops who risked their lives and died trying to capture the violent war lord who was blocking the U.N. from giving food and medical aid to the Somalis, as the villains. It should also be noted that Omar and her family fled their home country of Somalia before this mission occurred.
Lamb called out Omar for overinflating the number of Somalis killed that day, from a few hundred to “thousands.” Newsweek didn’t correct the Democrat on her falsehood and it escaped the notice of the overzealous “fact-checkers” as well.