A rescue worker searches the scene where an Ukrainian plane crashed in Shahedshahr, southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s main airport, killing all onboard. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

U.S. officials are now saying they believe that the Iranians shot down the Ukrainian plane that crashed shortly after it took off from the Tehran airport. At this point, the working theory seems to be that they did it accidentally after they shot their missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq.

The U.S. didn’t fire anything.

But some Democrats and media seem to have tripped over the same word to cast blame on the U.S. and President Donald Trump.

The word of the day is "crossfire." https://t.co/7sGba8WEqT — neontaster (@neontaster) January 9, 2020

Did everyone get the notification?

The Tehran plane crash is a terrible, sickening twist of fate: Ukraine once again sucked in to a geopolitical conflict created by others, along with Ukrainian, Canadian and other passengers caught – like the MH17 passengers – in the crossfire — Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) January 9, 2020

Civilians get caught in the crossfire of military confrontations, a fact and an intrinsic risk of all conflict. The fact that the US Navy accidentally shot down an Iranian civilian airliner 32 years ago calls for some humility about how such a thing could happen. https://t.co/XEHcVlCe6z — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 9, 2020

But perhaps the worst “crossfire” example was that of Lawfare editor and CNN analyst Susan Hennessey.

176 completely innocent lives, killed in the crossfire of reckless escalation. Just an unbelievable tragedy. https://t.co/LTI0kfHPrx — Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 9, 2020

“Killed by Iran” Fixed it for you. — neontaster (@neontaster) January 9, 2020

“Crossfire” seems to be the word of the day for helping Iran shift an equal share of the blame for its own, unilateral actions within its own airspace against a civilian airplane taking off from its own capital onto Donald Trump. https://t.co/LTjFJ7fckQ — Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) January 9, 2020

“Killed in crossfire” is objectively false. Collateral is indeed a consideration in tactical plans, but there was no crossfire, and the collateral in this case is strictly Iran’s burden. https://t.co/D3R3Req9Bi — Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) January 9, 2020

I am 1000 % certain that if the US had shot down a commercial airliner while going after Soleimani none of these hacks would be blaming "crossfire." — David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) January 9, 2020

Incredible. Iran fires balisstic missiles at US troops, US does not shoot back. Then when Iran shoots down a civilian airplane, it’s “crossfire.” https://t.co/QtJJGUH8rj — Philip Klein (@philipaklein) January 9, 2020

“Crossfire”? The missiles flew in one direction, from Iran toward Americans. These innocents were killed by reckless & incompetent agents of the Tehran regime, which bears sole responsibility. https://t.co/nhnPUoxJEf — Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) January 9, 2020

“Crossfire.” One hardly knows what to say. https://t.co/GuBBqp6TOW — Brit Hume (@brithume) January 10, 2020

Millions of innocent Alderaanians, killed in the crossfire of reckless escalation. Just an unbelievable tragedy. pic.twitter.com/fO4d8A6Oaz — Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) January 9, 2020

But Hennessey kept plugging away, trying to justify herself.

When people warn of the risks of escalation, civilians being killed in accidents are part of that risk. Period. It is *explicitly* included in national security risk analysis. 👇This type of nonsense represents such a lazy, dishonest, and fundamentally cowardly position. pic.twitter.com/UDUbRhY0Vg — Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 9, 2020

By that logic, the U.S. should never be allowed to defend itself after being attacked because they should know their enemies are going to shoot down civilian planes beforehand hundreds of miles away and five days later. See how silly it sounds when it’s actually said?

Look, when you fight bad guys you have to expect that they are likely to do *more* bad guy things because now you’ve really annoyed them, which is why we shouldn’t fight bad guys. — Vin Sidious (@VinSidious) January 9, 2020

Democrats and media also keep skipping over the facts that the U.S. had already faced multiple attacks by Qasem Soleimani before he was taken out during which an American was killed. But, of course, somehow it’s the U.S. who “escalated.”

Guys, "how dare you blame us and not Iran" and "debate my definition of crossfire, coward" right-wing twitter is just pretending. The answer is to roll your eyes and ignore them. They'll tire themselves out eventually. — Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 9, 2020

Roll your eyes towards a dictionary. https://t.co/UpVTkNldFu — neontaster (@neontaster) January 9, 2020

HT: Twitchy