‘What an idiot': New York Times savaged over ‘boys on the bombers' fact check
The US has officially joined Israel in its battle against nuclear power Iran, and the New York Times was ready and waiting to wag a woke finger in the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his choice of words in a press briefing.
In a Sunday news conference, Hegseth heaped praise on President Trump and the military campaign that saw six 'bunker buster' bombs dropped on key nuclear sites in the country.
'The operation President Trump planned was bold and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back,' he said, warning, 'when this president speaks, the world should listen — and the US military, we can back it up.'
At one point, Hegseth casually called the B-2 pilots who dropped the 15-ton bombs on targets in Iran 'our boys on those bombers,' which the New York Times appeared to jump on.
'In the briefing, Hegseth referred to B-2 pilots as 'our boys on those bombers,' yet both men and women have been trained to fly them,' NYT Pentagon reporter John Ismay corrected the record on the outlet's blog.
The posting drew hundreds of scornful comments on social media.
'This is why people use the New York Times to line their bird cages,' one poster mused.
'Yes, let's make sure to be politically correct at this serious time,' another sarcastically quipped.
'What an idiot. We women know exactly what Secretary Hegseth meant,' said an X user.
It's not clear whether any women took part in the 37-hour B-2 bomber raid, which saw the stealth planes take off from and return to Whiteman Air Force Base in western Missouri.
It's a bizarre time to drop a fact check on something that wasn't even trolling from the Trump administration, particularly when Iran threatened US bases in the Middle East as a result of the US attacks.
International concern focused on fears that the unprecedented US attacks would deepen conflict in the volatile region after Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran earlier this month.
Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation.
'Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces,' he said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency.
'America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences.'
President Donald Trump urged Iran to end the conflict after he launched surprise strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.
'We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the 'bomb' right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!)' he said on social media.
And while the US president did not directly advocate regime change in the Islamic republic, he openly played with the idea – even after his aides stressed that was not a goal of American intervention.
'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
'But if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!'
Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing earlier that Iran's nuclear program had been 'devastated,' adding the operation 'did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.'
Standing beside Hegseth, top US general Dan Caine said that while it would be 'way too early' for him to determine the level of destruction, 'initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.'
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