Golden State Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr, has found his voice yet again to speak out on another political issue and against the possibility of war breaking out in Iran.
Kerr made news on Friday by replying to an article written by The Week. The article highlighted an apparent flaw made by Vice President Mike Pence when listing 10 of the largest “atrocities” committed by Iranian General Qasem Soleimani that contributed to President Trump’s decision to call a drone strike.
Pence’s tweet read: “Assisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan of 10 of the 12 terrorists who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.”
Many jumped at the chance to point out that there were 19 terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks. The Week wrote an entire article showing the flaws in the tweet.
And Kerr took the opportunity to do the same saying, “One thing I've learned in my lifetime is to not believe our government when it comes to matters of war. Johnson and Nixon lied about Viet Nam. Bush and Cheney lied about WMD's in Iraq. Now Pence is lying about Iran/Soleimani's supposed involvement in 9/11.”
Pence’s office quickly clarified, “For those asking: 12 of the 19 transited through Afghanistan. 10 of those 12 were assisted by Soleimani.”
In an email to Fox News, Pence spokeswoman Katie Waldman claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), under Soleimani's leadership, knowingly allowed 12 of the 9/11 hijackers to transit to Afghanistan.
Waldman also referenced a fact sheet released by the State Department in April of 2019, which read:
"In addition to its support of proxies and terrorist groups abroad, Iran also harbors terrorists within its own borders, thereby facilitating their activities. Iran continues to allow Al Qaeda (AQ) operatives to reside in Iran, where they have been able to move money and fighters to South Asia and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department identified and sanctioned three senior AQ operatives residing in Iran and noted that Iran had knowingly permitted these AQ members, including several of the 9/11 hijackers, to transit its territory on their way to Afghanistan for training and operational planning."
Kerr has continued since then to follow Pence’s lead and clarify many of his positions on the issue as well.
Warriors’ beat writer, Connor Letourneau, tweeted out some of Kerr’s reasoning for being so vocal about the subject.
This latest episode of political activism has given fuel to Kerr’s many critics, who highlighted Kerr's apparent hypocricy and his unwillingness to discuss the NBA’s allegiances with China earlier this season.
Maybe Kerr really is concerned with the possibility of the United States going to war with Iran. Or maybe this is just more posturing from the wokest coach in the NBA.
