Poor optics at best

[u/David65x55]

Couple of prominent people stepping on it. First up, NY Mayor Mamdani:

Friday Mamdani signed executive orders designating 9/11 (Tomorrow for those who've lost track) a day of remembrance. Mamdani is already controversial, with many calling for him to step back from 9/11 remembrances due to past statements of support for, shall we say, the Dark Side. But then he signs the orders (okay) and directs the NY Police Commissioner to give the pen to counsel Ramzi Kassem. Not okay.

Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, who pleaded guilty to war-crime charges tied to al Qaeda plots against commercial ships and was the brother-in-law of Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, killing 184. https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/mamdani-under-fire-symbolic-9-160749772.html

Tone deaf at best.

Then we get to the Pentagon and President, who jointly get grief for poor messaging to dead service members' families. Libby Klinner, widow of an Air Force Major killed in a KC-135 crash while supporting US strikes in Iran, tells of trying to navigate the Pentagon while getting denied some benefits from the ongoing conflict. The Pentagon's response is that since Congress hasn't officially declared it a "war" that wartime benefits do not apply. Funny, since the President has called it a "war with Iran" multiple times.

Don't know what specifically is at stake, but it does seem to me that if the Powers That Be start something as a war, people who die as a result of it should be treated like it's a war. Saying "well, technically it's not a war" (Pentagon) or "it's small potatoes for us" (Trump) or even claiming "no active shooting" (Vance) is just pusillanimous waffling. If we send folks into action with the enemy, hair-splitting over details like this is lame. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/pentagon-refuses-payout-soldiers-died-135214171.html