SAN ANTONIO — In a week that has seen President Donald Trump order the military killing of a top Iranian general and the Middle Eastern country responding with missile strikes on an Iraqi base housing U.S. troops, Republican U.S. Congressman Will Hurd says Iran is not a victim. He said Iran is destructive.
"They will kill their own people," he said. "They murdered 1,500 people peacefully protesting back in November. They have shot down American technology. They killed an American contractor. They tried to overrun our embassy."
In a bold op-ed, Hurd said Iran is the culprit, and defended Trump's actions in launching airstrikes to kill General Qasem Soleimani.
"To take someone like this with this capability off the battlefield it is a good thing," he said.
Hurd spent nearly a decade in the Middle East and South Asia as an undercover officer in the CIA.
"We live in dangerous world," Hurd said. "One of the things I learned in the CIA: Be nice to nice guys and be tough with tough guys."
He said the U.S. received trusted intelligence to justify this attack.
"If we had this kind of credible information in the past and didn't take the opportunity to do this, why didn't we do it then?" he said.
However, Democrats disagree. Sen. Chris Murphy criticized the call.
"I was deeply surprised at the lack of information presented by the administration regarding a specific imminent threat," he said. "This appears to me to be a strike of choice by this administration, one that likely would have required congressional authorization beforehand."
Hurd said this conflict is with the Iranian government and not the people. He added the situation is complicated, and emphasized unity with our European allies. But, he emphasized the U.S. needs to remain strong.
"Appeasing Iran will only make future conflict and bloodshed more likely," he said.