‘There’s no doubt where the blame lies’ – House minority leader Kevin McCarthy

The top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives sidestepped questions today about whether the Trump administration should have warned Canada of its plan to kill a top Iranian general — while insisting the U.S. shares no blame for the deaths of 176 people aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.

“The president made the right decision,” House minority leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters today in Washington, D.C.

“There is no blame here for America. America stood up once again for freedom. Iran went past a red line they had not gone past before, killing a U.S. citizen. Iran shot down an innocent, commercial airliner. There’s no doubt where the blame lies.”

In an interview with Global News this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indirectly blamed rising tensions in the Middle East for the destruction last week of Flight PS752 just after takeoff outside Tehran.

Iranian leaders admitted Saturday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down the Boeing 737-800 using surface-to-air missiles. Of the 176 people on board, 57 were Canadians.

“I think if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families,” Trudeau said.

“This is something that happens when you have conflict and … war. Innocents bear the brunt of it. And it is a reminder why all of us need to work so hard on de-escalation, on moving forward to reduce tensions and find a pathway that doesn’t involve further conflict and killing.”

Iran and the U.S. lurched to the brink of open war when a U.S. drone strike killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani Jan. 3 in Baghdad. International observers and Trump’s domestic critics argue the sudden decision to kill another country’s military leader destabilized the security climate in the region — making miscalculations like the one that apparently led to the downing of Flight PS752 more likely.

Asked whether the administration of U.S. President Donald should have warned Canada of the plan to kill Soleimani, McCarthy ducked the question by citing Iranian acts of aggression in the region, including an Iranian-backed assault on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad in late December and a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that killed an American civilian contractor.

“I think Soleimani should’ve been killed,” he said. “I think if he had been held accountable for his actions for decades before … the American would be alive. And Trudeau did not have to mention Iran because the facts are purely on Iran … Trudeau is right about what Iran had been doing.”

(c) CBC