He should have said no comment. However, if he said the opposite, that the US would NOT shoot down Israeli planes flying over Iraq, that would be tantamount to saying they already have permission, would create a diplomatic nightmare for dealing with the Arabs and any closet Iranian allies, AND would lose the element of surprise against Iran. He didn’t say we would shoot them down either. He was in a bind and gave the best non-committal answer he could short of “no comment.” You guys should just leave it alone.
Nope, sorry. No free passes for someone who should know better than give the response he gave. Either he is a professional soldier or he isn’t. Considering his position of being on the Joint Chief’s staff he should have known how to respond, but didn’t.