In the weeks since October 7 when Hamas terrorists launched their bloody slaughter against Israel, other Iran-backed proxies have launched more than six dozen attacks on U.S. military personnel and contractors stationed in Iraq and Syria. Unsurprisingly, President Biden's strategy of simply telling the terrorists "don't" did not convince them to avoid launching attacks at American service members, nor has an increased presence of U.S. troops and vessels in the region or the half-hearted retaliation seen in the three U.S. strikes on Syrian storage facilities used by terrorists.
Yep, in response to more than 70 attacks on U.S. troops by Iran-backed militia terrorists, the Biden administration has responded with three strikes targeting what are essentially warehouses with terrorist equipment and weapons, killing only a handful of terrorists.
In the attacks aimed at American service members, terrorists used a variety of weapons: kamikaze drones, rockets, gunfire, etc. As a result, more than 60 Americans have been wounded and one U.S. contractor has been killed — so far. Among the injuries reported among American troops are traumatic brain injuries, not just a scrape-on-the-elbow type of thing, but the Pentagon has said the injured have returned to duty.
Week after week, as President Biden scolded Iran and its terrorist proxies against escalating hostilities in the region, after two carrier strike groups were dispatched to the area, and in the wake of U.S. counterstrikes against terrorist facilities, the attacks continued. Even with the American aircraft carriers, an amphibious ready group, Army air defense units, a handful of Air Force fighter squadrons, and hundreds of support personnel at the terror proxies' front door, the terrorists kept up their attacks.
That is, any deterrence Biden said he was using did not in fact deter the terrorists from launching consecutive attacks on Americans in the Middle East.
Putting an exclamation point on the continued and escalatory nature of the attacks, Iran's terror proxies launched at least four separate attacks at U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria on Thanksgiving Day.
Those barrages were followed up by the launch of two ballistic missiles by Houthi rebels toward the USS Mason in the Gulf of Aden on November 26 as U.S. forces came to the aid of an Israeli-linked tanker vessel fighting off a hijacking attempt by armed gunmen.
Both missiles failed to reach any targets in the Gulf, but the fact that an Iran-backed proxy would fire toward an American vessel demonstrates the lack of deterrence felt by these terrorist groups. The reason why is clear, given Biden's weakness.
In the words of President Ronald Reagan, "peace is not obtained by wishing or weakness," yet that's exactly what Biden and his administration are bringing to the world stage. The presence of carrier strike groups and American forces don't deter when Biden has not demonstrated strength nor a willingness to use those assets to meaningfully put down the assaults on American troops or the terrorists who carry them out.
From the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan when the Biden administration handed Afghanistan over to the Taliban while calling the terrorists "professional" to failing to deter Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Biden has not shown himself to be decisive or strong. In a twist of ironic fate, Biden's "wishing" to pivot the U.S. focus from the Middle East to Asia and the Pacific directly contributed to the enrichment of Iran, the emboldenment of terrorists, and a reestablishment of Iranian proxies' ability to carry out attacks.
To think that Biden can say "don't" and they'll listen while Biden simultaneously unfreezes billions of dollars for the regime in Tehran, thereby flooding Iran-backed terrorists with cash, is insanity.
American deterrence without the backing of a significant and known threat of retaliation for any attack is just a word and a fateful wish, as Reagan explained. Our 40th and 45th presidents demonstrated what actual deterrence can and should look like when dealing with Iran. Reagan responded to the Iranian mining of an American vessel by sinking half of Iran's naval force. Trump shut down Tehran and its proxies by ordering a successful drone strike on IRGC Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani as he drove toward the Baghdad airport.
Both are cases of what real deterrence looks like, and both — despite detractors' claims — put down Iranian aggression. That's the kind of strength America needs to show if the enemies of freedom around the world are to know that they can't act with impunity. Unfortunately for Americans, U.S. troops, and our allies around the world, Biden doesn't look likely to order the kind of actions that will actually deter more attacks or invasions.
