CNN pundit Van Jones shames liberal colleagues for their Iran comments
The former Obama aide made the remarks on CNN's Saturday Morning Table for Five, in a discussion that included Republican commentator Scott Jennings, ex-Biden aide Dan Koh and conservative commentator S.E. Cupp.
Both Koh and Cupp had expressed disapproval of President Donald Trump's decision-making leading up to the attack.
This earned a stern rebuke from Jones, who demanded that progressives 'get on board' with Trump's position.
'I think progressives underestimate how dangerous Iran is,' he began, as Jennings, fresh off a trip to Israel, nodded his head in approval.
'Iran is not a normal country. Normal countries don't blind women because they showed some hair.
'They don't empower little gangs and proxies to surround a country and fire rockets and rape people,' he continued.
'Two things are clear: the what - they cannot have a bomb.'
'And the why: because they say, "Death to America. Death to Israel. And death to all the Jews."
'One of those should offend you - if you're progressives. At least one should offend you.'
He then turned to the 'who' and 'how' of the conflict.
'Is Israel going to take out this nuclear capacity by dropping people there who blow it up?' Jones asked.
'Or is America going to take it out by dropping a bomb that blows it up?'
Pleading for a preemptive strike that soon came to pass, Jones then turned back to 'the what and the why' of the situation, which he said was quite 'clear.'
'We cannot have a nuclear armed Iran,' he said.
'I was in the region. You were in the region,' Jones said, motioning to Jennings.
'This is a very dangerous power that cannot get a nuclear weapon.
'Progressives should get on board with that.'
That evening, Jones words proved prophetic, with the US attacking several known nuclear facilities in Iran.
The move - made a little over a week after Israel claimed Iran had been close to obtaining nuclear weapons - sparked pushback from both sides of the aisle.
Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie slammed it as 'not Constitutional,' since it was made without the approval of Congress.
'This is not about the merits of Iran's nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress,' added Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, calling the bombings 'an unambiguous impeachable offense.'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez - one of the fiercest critics of Israel - unsurprisingly agreed.
'The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,' the New York Democrat said.
'He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,' she went on, also calling the order 'grounds for impeachment.'
The president, meanwhile, deployed B-2 stealth bombersin the attack, after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran.
On Friday, Trump said he was going to wait two weeks before deciding whether to enter the conflict.
Iran has since promised to respond, after saying the strikes on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites constituted the US 'enter[ing] the war clearly and directly'.
The country is currently weighing its military options. It launched a new wave of missiles and drones against Israel Monday.
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