Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” over the weekend to push back against criticism of the U.S. war against Iran and its high number of civilian casualties, but in doing so, inadvertently made a telling admission, writer and analyst William Saletan noted on Monday.
“As you know, some Iranian advocates are urging the United States not to target civilian infrastructure, and you say the United States is okay targeting civilians?” NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked Waltz during his appearance on the network on Sunday.
“In the laws of land warfare and the rules of engagement, civilians – uh, any type of infrastructure that is being co-mingled, that is being used to move military hardware is absolutely a legitimate target,” Waltz responded, stopping himself from using the word “civilians.”
“Did you hear that?” Saletan said in his analysis of the interview, published Monday by The Bulwark’s YouTube channel as a video.
“He started to say civilian infrastructure was a legitimate target, but then he caught himself and he said 'co-mingled' infrastructure, he said if you co-mingle military assets with civilian assets, then it's fair game.”
In the less than two months since President Donald Trump authorized the ongoing war against Iran, the United States is believed to be responsible for several notable attacks on Iranian civilian sites, including the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school that killed 156 civilians, including 120 children.
An investigation into the school bombing by the nonprofit watchdog group Human Rights Watch found “no evidence that would indicate that the school was being used for military purposes.” Furthermore, the United States may have "violated its own rules of war” by moving servicemembers in the Middle East from U.S. bases to hotels and other civilian locations, per reporting from The New York Times.