Jan 3, 2020 - Economy
Geraldo Rivera spars with "Fox & Friends" host on Soleimani strike
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Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera sparred with "Fox & Friends" host Brian Kilmeade on Friday over the U.S. decision to target Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike.
What happened: After Rivera called into question the intelligence that led to the start of the Iraq War in 2003, Kilmeade pushed back, saying that he would "cheer on" the Soleimani strike because the Iranian general had killed and targeted hundreds of Americans.
- Rivera responded, "Well then, you, like Lindsey Graham, have never met a war you didn't like."
- That set off a pointed argument between the two that ultimately led Rivera to blame former President George W. Bush for "those fake weapons of mass destruction that never existed and the con job" that started the conflict in Iraq.
The full exchange:
GERALDO RIVERA: Now we have taken this huge military escalation. Now, I fear the worst. You're gonna see the U.S. markets go crazy today. You're gonna see the price of oil spiking today. This is a very, very big deal.
BRIAN KILMEADE: And I don't know if you heard, but this isn't about his resume of blood and death. It is about what was next. We stopped the next attack. That's what I think you're missing.
[crosstalk]
STEVE DOOCY: According to the secretary of state.
RIVERA: By what credible source can you predict what the next Iranian move would be?
KILMEADE: The secretary of state and American intelligence provided that material.
RIVERA: Yeah, they've been excellent. They've been excellent — the U.S. intelligence has been excellent since 2003 when we invaded Iraq, disrupted the entire region, for no real reason. Don't for a minute start cheering this on. What you have done, what we have done, what we have unleashed —
KILMEADE: I will cheer it on.
RIVERA: Well then, you, like Lindsey Graham, have never met a war you didn't like.
KILMEADE: That is not true, and don't even say that. We should just let him kill us for another 15 years?
RIVERA: If President Trump wanted de-escalation and to bring our troops home, what this was a reaction to —
KILMEADE: What about the 700 Americans who are dead, should they not be happy? Because of him?
RIVERA: What about the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have died since 2003? You have to start seeing things — what the hell are we doing in Baghdad in the first place? Why are we there? Why aren't these forces home?
KILMEADE: You're blaming President Bush for the maniacal killing of Saddam Hussein?
RIVERA: I am blaming President Bush in 2003 for those fake weapons of mass destruction that never existed and the con job that drove us into that war.
DOOCY: Geraldo, I think there's a disagreement here at the desk on, uh, all of that.
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