‘You Don’t Have to Patronize Me’: Retired General Gets Testy With Fox’s Will Cain, Later Apologizes

A segment on the U.S. bombing of Iran became awkward on Monday when retired Gen. Jack Keane, a Fox News contributor, grew impatient on The Will Cain Show.

The U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran on Saturday, killing dozens of Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Hundreds of civilians have also been killed, including at least 165 people at a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran. Most of the dead were children. Moreover, six U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait.

President Donald Trump and his administration have given different explanations for the military campaign, which Trump said could last for four weeks or more. In one telling, Iran was allegedly close to building a nuclear weapon, despite Trump’s claim that last summer the U.S. had “totally obliterated” Iran’s ability to do so. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. acted when it did because administration officials knew Israel was about to attack Iran, which could lead to U.S. casualties. Rubio also said the goal is to eliminate Iran’s ballistic missiles. Additionally, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it.”

Cain sought clarity from Keane, a retired four-star general.

“We just heard from the Secretary of State that the objective is to degrade and destroy their ballistic missile capability,” Cain said. “So, I think I want to ask this question of you. What does victory look like? When would the United States say, ‘Mission accomplished’?”

“Well, I’m pretty familiar with the plan is,” Keane responded. “It’s very comprehensive. It will take weeks to execute. The timeframe could move faster because these are condition-based, and what we’re achieving is nothing short of remarkable, if you want to get into some of the specifics of what’s really been accomplished here. But I think the objectives are pretty clear. Hegseth, the secretary, just laid it out, the president has laid it out, the secretary of state has laid it out. I mean, I’m more than happy to repeat it, but the objective is to prevent this regime from having the capability to continue to attack us.”

Keane added that “it’s pretty clear” what the mission is.

Cain confessed that the mission is not clear to him and things got tense and awkward from there:

CAIN: Ok, well, it’s not 100% clear to me, General, and that’s not to suggest that I don’t support 100% what is happening, nor that I 100% offer my support. I just think I want to ask a couple of critical questions. And I hope you know how much respect I have for your service, and I think it goes without saying to anybody watching how much respect I have for the men making these decisions–

KEANE: You don’t have to patronize me. Just ask the question. Go ahead, come on, ask it.

CAIN: To be clear, General I’m not patronizing you. I’m trying to have a very serious conversation in front of the American people. That meant making these decisions have my utmost respect and this is less about you and everyone making these decisions and this is about the American people understanding the investment that lies before them. Do we understand the objectives? We’ve seen the price in the past of having unclear objectives. And maybe you do and maybe the secretary of war does, but I think the American people also need to understand. And when you lay out the way that Iran has behaved toward the United States, is a justification. But it’s a justification for regime change. And I just heard something different from the secretary of state. The reason I think this is a point of clarification that I need or I think that a lot of the people need is because degrading their missile capability requires a different investment than regime change. So what I want to be clear about is at what level investment are we looking at here?

KEANE: I thought it was pretty clear. I mean, what we’re trying to do is take down what sustains this regime and keeps it be able to function. That is their governance system with leadership. The IRGC, the police that are repressing the people and strip away all of that capability. And what I’m talking about is U.S. and Israeli objectives here, because this is a combined operation. That is critical to success here. And then it becomes, what are we doing about their capabilities to attack us? And that has been pretty clear. We’re gonna strip away all of that, Will. We’re going to take down the ballistic missile systems, the drones, capability… And they made the decision to recover their nuclear weapons, but they haven’t done much about it.

Later, at the end of the interview, Keane apologized to the host:

CAIN: I appreciate you spending some time with me today to address some of these questions. Thank you, General.

KEANE: Yeah, I’m sorry I barked at you.

CAIN: That’s all right, General. I think for the General and everybody else watching, these are times when questions are critical. I think the General has the utmost capability of answering those questions, as do many of the people making these decisions. But these can and should be asked on something no less than the prospect of war.

Watch above via Fox News.

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