For years, dating back to when he was vice president, Joe Biden has been emboldening Iran. He was part of an administration that went to extreme lengths to give Iran a path to nuclear weapons. Upon his occupation of the White House, he has continued the Obama-era policy of appeasing the world’s number one terror-sponsor state. He’s unfrozen billions of dollars for the regime and tolerated attacks on our troops.
For all his appeasement of Iran, Biden has never succeeded in deterring them from attacking (and now killing) our troops. Decisive military retaliation is needed to respond to the deaths of three American troops killed in an Iranian-backed drone strike in Jordan, and yet, it looks increasingly like that just isn’t going to happen.
For sure, Biden appears willing to do something, but how significant will that response be? It’s not helping that the White House is previewing its upcoming moves. Administration sources have spoken with Politico, dishing the goods and broadcasting Biden’s potential moves.
“Within the administration, top aides are trying to thread a needle,” Jonathan Lemire and Alexander Ward of Politico reported Monday night. “Biden is ordering his advisers to present a range of U.S. response options that would forcefully deter other attacks while also not further inflaming a smoldering region, according to two officials granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about private deliberations.”
The report adds the following:
Biden, who has a well-known desire to limit conflict and avoid dragging the United States into another Middle East war, has directed his team to draw up military options in response to the weekend attack.
Among the options on the table for the Pentagon: striking Iranian personnel in Syria or Iraq or Iranian naval assets in the Persian Gulf, according to the officials. The Iranian government, for its part, has suggested that a strike on Iran itself would be a red line. The officials suggested that, once the president gave the go-ahead, the retaliation would likely begin in the next couple of days and come in waves against a range of targets.
Why not just present the Iranian mullahs with a few options to choose from? Surely that would be easier than using the media as a middleman. What exactly is there to be gained by revealing likely targets for retaliation?
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Meanwhile, guess what? Despite the loss of three U.S. troops, appeasement of Iran continues. Why? It’s all about politics and Biden’s reelection campaign.
But while affairs overseas don’t often determine presidential elections, there is a risk that rising tumult abroad could prompt voters to seek change at home. Polling suggests portions of the Democratic base — including young voters, voters of color and progressives — disapprove of Biden’s support of Israel during the war and believe he has not done enough to limit the civilian casualties in Gaza.
Biden’s support for Israel has hurt the campaign badly with the sizable Arab-American population in Michigan, and his team is scrambling to find other paths to victory in the battleground state, according to two campaign advisers granted anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly about strategy.
In other words, the death of three U.S. troops has forced Biden’s hand — he has to retaliate — but he’s not going to do anything decisive or meaningful to deter Iran because he doesn’t want to alienate his base.