The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on President Trump to protect civilian life when approving any military operations after national security officials “casually celebrated” the killing of Yemeni civilians, including a woman, in Signal chat messages released by reporter Jeffery Goldberg.
During the Signal chat, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz wrote, “The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.”
Vice President Vance responded, “Excellent.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe responded, “A good start.” Waltz then posted three emojis: a fist bump, an American flag, and fire. Marco Rubio also wrote, “Good Job Pete and your team!!”
SEE: The Leaked Signal Chat, Annotated
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“Although most public criticism of Trump administration officials has focused on the unprecedented national security breach that they committed, far less attention has been paid to the heartless nature of their conversation: casually celebrating the killing of Yemeni civilians, including a specific female bystander.
“Praising each other for destroying a building full of civilians because a single target was supposedly visiting his girlfriend there is, to put it simply, sociopathic. The Trump administration must adhere to the rules of war, including protecting civilian life, and stop starting new forever wars in the Middle East. President Trump should focus his energy on ending the genocide in Gaza, which is the only way to advance peace across the Middle East.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com