He wasn't seeking to trash them, certainly. But he gets it wrong. There is an important difference between someone taking on a dangerous mission but who has been given the training and tools to survive, and someone sent out by cynical masters on a suicide mission.
Of course he did; nobody is arguing he didn't.
The argument is did he MEAN to say it; and if you watched, you surely can see he did not -- he misspoke. He did NOT say it with malice.
And, honestly, I think it makes FR look bad when we have these kneejerks responses like this.
He misspoke.