Republicans Want Answers on Iran School Strike — But Not Hearings

The White House and many Senate Republicans said they’re waiting to see what the Department of Defense says about the schoolchildren killed in Iran.

Sen. James Lankford

“Oversight is good,” Sen. James Lankford said. “But again, we’re in the middle of a military operation now.” Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

Many Senate Republicans say they want answers on whether the U.S. struck a girls’ school in Iran, killing about 175 people, most of them children. But the lawmakers seem satisfied with waiting for the Trump administration to produce those answers rather than publicly pressing them.

“Oversight is good,” Sen. James Lankford said. “But again, we’re in the middle of a military operation now. The questions are reasonable questions. The timing and the standing up and doing a public hearing while our troops are in the field, saying, ‘You guys are shooting at schoolgirls,’ when they’re actually defending our families — I think it’s just the wrong way to do that.”

Some Republicans took it even further. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a top cheerleader for the war, said he does not support public hearings on civilian casualties or an independent investigation into the strike on the girls’ school.