LOS ANGELES.–Kataib Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Iraq militia, struck Tower 22 in Jordan, an important stealth U.S. based supplying intel and advisers in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] and other terror groups in the region. Kataib Hezbollah has been striking U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, trying to push the U.S. out of the area. Even 79-year-old Kurdish U.S.-backed Iraqi President Abdul Lafif Rashid wants the U.S. out of Iraq, currently negotiating a complete withdrawal of all 2.500 U.S. forces. Since 62-year-old former President Barack Obama completed the official U.S. withdrawal from Iraq Dec. 18, 2011, terrorists groups have been attacking U.S. forces at forward operating bases and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone. While attacks have increased since the Oct. 7, 2023 Israeli-Hamas War, Iranian-backed Shiite terror attacks are ongoing.
Hitting Tower 22 in Jordan with a predator drone killed three U.S. soldiers, injuring 34, with various types of concussive injuries. “We had a tough day last night in the Middle East. We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases,” Biden said in South Carolina, promising, “and we shall respond.” Biden’s been responding to about 150 Iranian-backed terror strikes on U.S. forces deployed in various parts of the Mideast since the Oct. 7, 2023 Israeli-Hamas War began. “We will hold all those responsible to account at a time and a manner [of] our choosing,” said 70-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “We will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our troops and our interests,” saying nothing new to deter the ongoing attacks on U.S. targets. Sen. Lindsey Graham doesn’t buy the president’s U.S. strategy to deter terror attacks.
Graham, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the current deterrent strategy is not working. “I am calling on the Biden Administration to strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces, but as deterrence against future aggression,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement. “The only thing the Iranian regime understands is force,” putting Biden on notice that runaway Cruise missile strikes at Iranian-backed militia groups are ineffective. Graham pushes for attacks directly on Tehran, potentially opening up a new war front. Biden has tied the Pentagon into knots with his proxy war in Ukraine against the Kremlin. All other foreign policy priorities have been put in paralysis because Biden decided it was in U.S. interests to join Ukraine war with the Russian Federation. So, the White House finds itself unable to respond to emerging U.S. threats.
Iran denies any involvement in terror attacks on U.S. troops or bases around the Middle East. “Islamic Republic of Iran has no role in the decisions by resistance groups on how the support the Palestinian nation or defend their people,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Spokesman Nasser Kanaani, reported by IRNA, Iran’s official news agency. “Responsibility for the consequences of provocative accusations against Iran will be on those who raise the baseless allegations,” said Kanaani. Retaliatory strikes have been confined to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a ground the U.S. believes is ordered by 83-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Denying any role in the attacks present problems for the White House, deciding who’s responsible for recent attacks on Tower 22, killing three U.S. soldiers. Graham’s instincts are probably right about attacking Iran directly, rather than playing around with various Iranian-backed terror groups.
Iran calls its state-sponsored terror network the “axis of resistance,” to give its terror activities a legitimacy linked to the Israeli-Hamas war. Iran hides behind the Palestinian cause to justify supplying arms-and-cash to various terror groups to advance Iran’s dominance of the region. Saudi Arabia’s 38-year-old de facto Leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman found out the hard way fighting a bloody war against Yemen’s Iranian-back Houthi rebels since 2015. Hitting various Saudi targets like the Riyadh International Airport or Aramco oil refineries showed the Houthi’s range in attacking the Kingdom. Bin Salman has reluctantly tried to make peace with Iran to avoid future Houthi attacks. Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, or more recently on Red Sea oil tankers and freighters, has nothing to do with the Israeli-Hamas war but with Iran asserting dominance in the Mideast and Horn of Africa. Yet Iran denies that it orders Houthis or any other group to attack U.S. interests.
Biden finds himself boxed into a corner, all because his reckless proxy war in Ukraine against the Kremlin has turned U.S. foreign policy on its head. Embroiled in a conflict with the Kremlin, Biden can no longer count on Russian President Vladimir Putin for any cooperation in the Middle East or elsewhere. Biden can’t even consider doing what’s necessary to stop attacks on U.S. interests in the Mideast and Horn of Africa. If Biden ended the Ukraine War, telling Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to go to the peace table with Putin, he would be able to restore U.S. diplomatic relations with Russia. So, Graham’s idea of hitting Iran directly would be possible but only if Biden had normal diplomatic relations with the Kremlin. Putin is more aligned today with Communist China, Iran and North Korea, preventing Biden from dealing with Iran directly as Graham suggests. Only by ending the Ukraine War can Biden hope to gain control over the Mideast.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
