So not even a week after it was reported that the Biden White House went out of its way to secretly warn Iran before ISIS bombed a ceremony to commemorate the brutal IRCS Quds force general we assassinated—that is, we warned Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, particularly who sponsor routine drone strikes on our military bases, about an impending attack by other terrorists—yesterday Iran finally succeeded in killing three American soldiers, injuring another twenty-five.
Here is Biden pontificating in the Wall Street Journal,
“Today, America’s heart is heavy,” President Biden said in a statement. “We will carry on their commitment to fight terrorism. And have no doubt—we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner [of] our choosing
Biden said, “While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.”
Tower 22 is located close to Al Tanf Garrison in southeastern Syria, where U.S. forces have worked with local partners combating Islamic State militants.
This is the Times of London.
“Today, America’s heart is heavy,” he said. “Jill and I join the families and friends of our fallen — and Americans across the country — in grieving the loss of these warriors in this despicable and wholly unjust attack. These service members embodied the very best of our nation.
“We will carry on their commitment to fight terrorism. And have no doubt, we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner [of] our choosing.”
Notably for our purposes, he is saying absolutely nothing different from what he has already said. He has only ever gone so far as to acknowledge the militias are aided by Iran; he has never bluntly acknowledged Iran’s moral responsibility. The key words to zero in on there are these, “we will hold all those responsible at a time and manner of our choosing.”
Yes. Whoever “those responsible” for the “Iran-backed” militias bombing us are. At a “time and manner of our choosing” is apt to be interpreted by the Islamists—whose motto is “Death to America. Death to Israel. Glory to Islam—” as to mean America won’t respond at a time or manner of anyone’s choosing. For, a superpower to signal that retaliation for fatal attacks on its troops is a choice, is to signal it doesn’t have the will to respond in any significant way at all; and “deescalation” still reigns. I would add that if Iran and its proxies are serious about capitalizing on one of the most feckless administrations in history to drive the US out of the Middle East, then they would be idiots not to interpret it that way.
In an earlier article I compared this situation to Woodrow Wilson’s reluctance to declare war on Germany in the face of repeated U-boat terror attacks on Americans. The analogy has suddenly become much more salient. The question is now as it was then, How many dead Americans is the president going to take before he is forced to act?
— Jay