Today news landed that Iranian-back militia in Iraq have attacked American facilities and troops as many as four times in the past 24 hours, though not resulting in any casualties. Yet.
The U.S. blames the attacks on groups backed by Iran and says Tehran is ultimately responsible, a claim which Tehran denies, saying groups engaging in the attacks were doing so on their own accord.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have publicly stated that U.S. assets will continue to be targeted as long as the U.S. backs Israel in its war on Gaza.
The latest attacks come after the White House said on Thursday the U.S. military had struck targets in Syria to destroy weaponry and deter Iranian-backed separatist groups from targeting American personnel in the region.
Reuters, November 9, 2023
Does ANYONE really trust an unstable moron like Trump to handle the delicate dance of force and counter-force, diplomacy, and information and intelligence war- and lawfare that goes into competently managing the risk of a major escalation during such a crisis? Can you not imagine that Trump would have already launched attacks directly on Iran? Remember when he assassinated an Iranian General in response to the death of ONE American contractor in Syria?
Wouldn’t you rather a skilled, disciplined, competent, and trusted international figure like Biden handle the delicate dance required to keep this conflict in check and manage our alliances through this tragedy?
Some folks in the MAGA movement are ditto-headed enough to buy into Trump’s “I alone can do it” schtick: “Well, no one in Hamas or Iran or Iraq would have tried this shit if Trump were in charge…”. Basically, this is the madman theory of international peace: our leader is so insane and reactive that no one will dare try anything. Well, I don’t think that everyone who considers themselves a conservative or a Republican is that naive. There are plenty of serious people who understand real international conflict and affairs well enough to know that’s total bullshit.
To those people: do you really trust Trump to manage something like this? Really, really? Trust the lives of our sons and daughters in our armed forces to him, trust? You really are only going to have two options in 2024: Trump or Biden. I know who the responsible people will be choosing, which is why I am confident that Trump will never again be allowed near the White House again.
I hope you are right about Trump but could not disagree with your assessment of Biden’s current foreign policy more. From Ukraine ( where they are currently— finally— talking about negotiations) to Israel and now, apparently beyond, , his apetite for warfare is way too large. Maybe our presidents ans state dept personnel from here on out need to have their own children on the front lines— maybe THEN they would avoid war.
What you see as an ‘appetite for warfare’, I see as a realistic view of international conflict and the U.S.’s ability to affect the world’s conflicts. He’s not begun ANY conflict in his Presidency, only ended them or pursued a wise course in managing conflict and deploying American resources to achieve the national interest. We’ll have to agree to disagree about Biden as Commander-in-Chief, I think.
I think we can agree that too many of our Presidents begin armed conflicts. Biden is not one of those thus far.