The reporting on the national security ad-hoc Signal group leak has, understandably, concentrated on the sheer stupidity of using a public messaging app with no traceable authentication nor other basic security protocols as a means to plan a secret military attack.
What has been lost in major media coverage of the scandal (and despite what the Trump administration says, this is a scandal) are the details of
how the group described its initial airstrike, targeting the Houthis' "top missile guy."
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz wrote to Vice President Vance, "VP. Building collapsed. Had multiple positive ID. Pete, Kurilla, the IC, amazing job."
Vance: "What?"
Waltz: "The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed."
Vance: "Excellent"
John Ratcliffe: "A good start"
Michael Waltz: "👊🇺🇸🔥"
Marco Rubio: "Good Job Pete and your team!!"
So we have the group celebrating what they say was the total collapse of a building where the missile specialist's girlfriend lived, presumably with multiple casualties.
When the Houthis claim that the airstrikes that night killed 32 people, including women and children, the media was careful to say that this cannot be verified.
Al Jazeera identifies one airstrike that night in Sanaa that struck a residential area, which it says killed at least 15 people and wounded nine others. This seems to be the likeliest match for the Signal chat event.
An attack like this against such a high profile target is absolutely justified and legal even with a significant number of civilian casualties. But the contrast between how this attack is covered in the media and how similar attacks by Israel on buildings in Gaza is stark.
When the IDF attacks a single person in a building, it typically will take out the specific room or apartment where that person is, avoiding destroying the entire building when there are people inside. The media would be skeptical about Israel's claims that there was a terrorist there to begin with, and then concentrate on the civilians, with stories about how tragic their deaths are.
The US just destroyed the entire building, and apparently many civilians, and no one (outside the far-Left) is concerned.
Even worse, the Pentagon
has still not identified the name of the Houthi target or confirmed that he did in fact get killed
There is a huge disconnect between the deference the media shows to the US for its military claims compared to the skepticism and outright hostility shown towards similar Israeli statements that have more evidence and specific names.