As Iran Escalates Missile Attacks, Biden Pulls Anti-Missile Batteries
As Iran Escalates Missile Attacks, Biden Pulls Anti-Missile Batteries
By Daniel Greenfield
Iran and its proxies have targeted the US with missile strikes in Iraq. Its Houthi proxies have struck at Saudi Arabia from Yemen. So even as Biden is helping lubricate the flow of money to Iran’s terror machine, is pulling anti-missile batteries out of Iran’s way.
You’ll have to navigate some media spin for the story.
The Pentagon is pulling approximately eight Patriot antimissile batteries from countries including Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, according to officials. Another antimissile system known as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad system, is being withdrawn from Saudi Arabia, and jet fighter squadrons assigned to the region are being reduced, those officials said.
Why are they being pulled? The official spin is that Biden is preparing to take on Russia and China. That’s implausible.
Biden is not about to engage in missile exchanges with Russia. And an actual land war with China is nearly as improbable. This is a thin excuse for giving Iran a clear field.
The redeployment includes hundreds of troops who are members of units that operate or support those systems. The move comes as the military plans a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by this summer and after the U.S. last fall cut its force posture in Iraq by half—or 2,500 troops—because it said Iraqi forces could secure the country.
US forces in Iraq have come under fire from Iranian and proxy missiles. Either pull all the troops out of harm’s way or keep protecting them. Removing missile defenses while keeping thousands of American forces there just invites Iran to attack our troops.
But we’ve got the Iran Lobby and its people making policy in the Biden administration.
The decision to remove some of the defensive systems reflects a Pentagon view that the risk of escalating hostilities between the U.S. and Iran has diminished as the Biden administration pursues nuclear talks with Tehran and has signaled its intention to ease sanctions if the 2015 nuclear deal is restored.
So after burying the lede, the spin is that Iran is now going to be peaceful. That seems wildly implausible considering fairly recent Iranian attacks.
Multiple rockets targeted two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S.-led coalition troops and foreign contractors Wednesday, Iraqi security officials and the military said.
Three rockets hit Balad airbase, north of Baghdad, without causing any casualties or damage, an Iraqi military statement said. The base housed foreign contractors.
Hours later, at least one missile hit close to a military base next to Baghdad airport, two Iraqi security officials said. It was unclear whether the explosion was caused by a rocket or a drone strike.
That was in early June.
Iran is escalating. Biden is appeasing. As usual.
A senior defense official said the equipment withdrawals amount to a return to a more traditional level of defense for the region. Under former President Donald Trump, the U.S. actively deployed defensive systems as well as troops, jet fighter squadrons and naval warships to support its maximum pressure campaign against Iran.
By traditional, the echo chamber spinners mean Obama’s old appeasement policies.