Maddow Breaks Down ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ of U.S. Fighting with and Against Iran in Middle East

Last night, Rachel Maddow helped break down what has become the most counterintuitive foreign policy story of the week. While Iran is helping U.S. troops fight ISIS forces in Iraq, the U.S. is now aiding Saudi Arabia in its fight against Iran-backed forces in Yemen. So, in the middle of nuclear negotiations with Iran, the United States is essentially fighting both with and against them in different parts of the Middle East.

“Given our relationship with Iran, us fighting ISIS while Iran is fighting ISIS — that is weird enough,” Maddow said of the bombing campaign against ISIS in Tikrit. “But American forces actually participating alongside Iran in the exact same battle? That is more cognitive dissonance than U.S. officials are prepared to explain away.”

And, “just to make it all the more discomfiting,” Maddow added, “while we are fighting with Iran against ISIS in Iraq, we are also now supporting a whole new war against Iranian interesting in the nation of Yemen.”

“Effectively, if not officially, this is a war against Iran. How is this going to go? How big is going to go. And how entrenched are we going to get?” the host asked, adding, “Eek.”

NBC News’ Richard Engel then joined Maddow from the ground in Istanbul to help answer those questions. He described the situation as “even more convoluted” than she had said it was.

Watch video below, via MSNBC:

[Photo via screengrab]

— —

>> Follow Matt Wilstein (@TheMattWilstein) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!