3 US Troops Killed in Jordan as Pentagon Insists We're Not at War
"We are not at war in the Middle East"
Last night, three U.S. Army troops were killed in a drone attack on an undisclosed U.S. facility in Jordan — the first deaths by enemy fire of U.S. soldiers in the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war started.
This tragedy explodes two lies the Biden administration has been pushing ever since the Gaza war started:
“We are not at war in the Middle East,” as Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday.
“We currently assess that the fight between Israel and Hamas continues to remain contained in Gaza,” as Ryder also said.
Anyone with a room temperature IQ can see that we are at war in the Middle East. In past weeks alone, the U.S. has bombed Iranian-linked militias and ISIS in Syria as well as Iraq and is bombing Houthi targets in Yemen.
And as for the notion that the Israel-Hamas war is contained in Gaza, that is equally risible. The reason for the U.S. strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen is that the Houthis are attacking ships in the Red Sea — a key shipping lane on which international commerce depends — with the stated purpose of ending Israel’s war in Gaza. How is that “contained in Gaza,” General Ryder?
The cherry on top of this dishonesty sundae is how the U.S. government is characterizing the location of the drone attack, saying only that it “impacted at a base in northeast Jordan.” The U.S. military maintains secret bases in Jordan, as I’ve previously reported, and refuses to ever mention the role they play in the airstrikes I described above and other hostilities, keeping the American public in the dark about their own government’s foreign policy.
And the news media plays along with the charade, refusing to name the host nations from which U.S. forces are conducting those airstrikes in the region. Consider The New York Times’ vague yet typical characterization of U.S. airstrikes in Yemen: “Britain joined the United States in the attack against the Houthi targets as fighter jets from bases in the region and off the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower struck targets with precision-guided bombs” (emphasis mine).
By withholding the names of the host nations, the Biden administration obscures from the public the now clear reality that Israel’s war in Gaza is metastasizing into a regional war.
And so the Pentagon gets away with conducting high-profile airstrikes from nowhere, constituting a foreign policy attributable to no one.
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I left this comment on another writer’s Substack. It certainly applies here.
Sir our actions pertaining to Israel will not gain favorability with any Islamic country nor most of the world. We are putting our troops in a position that is precarious and indefensible. At the moment our actions are giving Iran the upper hand and the most important thing, “The Moral High Ground”. I care not what this administration says because they have failed, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Yemen and most importantly not calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. I am so disappointed because all that is being accomplished is the making of more freedom fighters. Yes you might call them terrorist but I see Viet-Minh, people fighting for their own freedom and country. Now is the for America to reflect and understand our policies are much worse than George lll forced upon the settlers of the New World.