MSNBC’s breaking news anchor and 11th Hour host Brian Williams is facing criticism from the Twittersphere for comments he made during the network’s live coverage of the missile launch attack on a Syrian air base. The strikes were carried out following a chemical weapon attack supposedly ordered by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 
 
 “I am tempted to quote the great Leonard Cohen: ‘I am guided by the beauty of our weapons,’” Williams said during an interview with U.S. intelligence expert Malcolm Nance. “They are beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments making what is for them what is a brief flight over to this airfield.” 
 
 The comments were made while video provided by the Pentagon of Tomahawk missiles launched by U.S. warships towards the Syrian air base was being shown. 
 
 Some people deemed the comments as insensitive or perhaps as a bit too cavalier given the circumstances. 
 
 Jesus Christ — Brian Williams: “I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons” – You can support airstrike without glamorizing it. https://t.co/77tefLFt9g — Yashar (@yashar) April 7, 2017 
 
 This is truly a surreal segment. Brian Williams: “I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.” https://t.co/85TNZxkNa8 — Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) April 7, 2017 
 
 The saddest thing here is Brian Williams is probably not lying this time. He likely thinks missile strikes are beautiful. https://t.co/11XnE4EbjO — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) April 7, 2017 
 
 Nance, on the other hand, defended Williams’s comments: 
 
 I personally love @BWilliams. He has an extremely calming effect in serious crises. His statement was a quote of poetry which I have adopted https://t.co/M1AYotR1h9 — Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) April 7, 2017 
 
 Comments ||||| Brian Williams has come under fire for his seemingly euphoric reaction to Thursday night’s U.S. missile strike on Syria. 
 
 During his “11th hour” MSNBC show, the anchor began to wax poetic at the sight of the Pentagon-released video that showed three missiles launching into the night sky on their way to a Syrian airfield 
 
 “We see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two U.S. Navy vessels in the Mediterranean,” Williams said. 
 
 The veteran newsman said the images tempted him to quote the late singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen. 
 
 And that’s what he did. “I am guided by the beauty of our weapons,” Williams said, a lyric from Cohen’s 1988 song “First We Take Manhattan.” He added, “They are beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments making a brief flight.” 
 
 Watch Williams’ segment below. 
 
 Twitter quickly pounced on his comments, calling them insensitive to the horrors of war. 
 
 “You can support airstrike without glamorizing it,” one critic tweeted. 
 
 Jesus Christ — Brian Williams: "I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons" – You can support airstrike without glamorizing it. https://t.co/77tefLFt9g — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) April 7, 2017 
 
 Some commented on how Williams seem to enjoy the imagery of war. 
 
 thoroughly unsurprised by brian williams obscene enjoyment of the jouissance of US military technology — Patrick Blanchfield (@PatBlanchfield) April 7, 2017 
 
 Brian Williams opens his wallet and out spill dozens of pictures of missile strikes with hearts drawn on them. — J.D. Altman (@NicCageMatch) April 7, 2017 
 
 Others brought up Williams’ six-month suspension from NBC without pay in 2015 for misrepresenting events that occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003, in addition to other stories. 
 
 Brian Williams is under fire for calling the US strike beautiful. However that story might not be true as it was reported by Brian Williams. — Will Presti (@WillPresti) April 7, 2017 
 
 “It’s time for Brian Williams to get fired again,” another tweeted. 
 
 I think it's time for Brian Williams to get fired again. — Sean Burns (@SeanMBurns) April 7, 2017 
 
 Neither MSNBC or Williams have yet to respond to the criticism. ||||| Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images 
 
 Both politicians and pundits have made many bizarre remarks about the U.S. strike on a Syrian air base last month, from President Trump’s childlike description of the chocolate cake he was eating at the time to Brian Williams repeatedly praising the “beautiful” war footage on MSNBC. 
 
 Now Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has pulled off an impressive feat: combining the Marie Antoinette element of Trump’s remarks and the callousness of Williams’s commentary. During a speech on Monday, Ross recalled the scene at Mar-a-Lago on April 6, when Trump dined with Chinese president Xi Jinping as two navy destroyers launched 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria. 
 
 “Just as dessert was being served, the president explained to Mr. Xi he had something he wanted to tell him, which was the launching of 59 missiles into Syria,” Ross said. “It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment.” 
 
 Ross was addressing the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, which Bloomberg describes as a gathering for “four thousand of the wealthiest, most influential leaders in the world.” 
 
 The crowd chuckled at Ross’s remark, according to Variety, and he added: “The thing was, it didn’t cost the president anything to have that entertainment.” 
 
 The “entertainment” might not have cost Trump anything, but USA Today calculates that the Tomahawk missiles alone cost about $79.9 million. The strike was launched after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces killed at least 87 people with chemical weapons, and the Syrian military claimed that at least seven people were killed and nine wounded in the U.S. strike.
– It's been awhile since "Brian Williams" and "controversy" have been uttered in the same sentence, but might as well take a crack at it again now that we're solidly in 2017. The MSNBC newscaster was among those providing commentary Thursday night after the US launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield, and while responses to the strike ran the gamut from "decisive" to "unlawful," Williams used a descriptor that few (if any others) did, per Adweek. "I am tempted to quote the great Leonard Cohen: 'I am guided by the beauty of our weapons,'" Williams waxed poetic (Variety notes it's a line from Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan"), as a video in the background showed the missiles hurtling from the US warships toward land. "They are beautiful pictures of fearsome armaments making what is for them what is a brief flight over to this airfield," he continued. But instead of swooning over his lyrical analysis, most of the internet came down on Williams for what appeared to be a glamorization of a wartime maneuver. One commenter called it "obscene enjoyment," while Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times called the segment "surreal." Others called Williams a "dope" or said he should be fired again. One person who didn't seem to mind Williams' take: Malcolm Nance, the intel expert who was on air with Williams during his soliloquy-like sermon. "He has an extremely calming effect in serious crises," tweeted Nance. (Congress members are split on how they feel about the strike.)