Three US soldiers killed in Jordan, Biden vows repercussions.

 

The US tower 22 base in Jordan that came under attack. AP/Planet Labs BBC.

Three US soldiers were killed in a drone strike on a US base in Jordan. AP. Dozens more were injured by the attack which has been blamed on an Iran-backed militias. Biden and his Secretary of Defense said that there would be retaliation against the people that carried out the attack. 350 troops are deployed at the Tower 22 base in Jordan which assists Jordan's military and assists the anti-ISIS operation in Syria. Iran-backed militias have been very active in attacking US bases in the region since the Israel-Gaza war broke out, but this is the first time anyone has been killed in these attacks. 

My Comment:

Already the warmongers in the Senate are calling for war with Iran over this incident. Both Linsey Graham and John Cornyn are calling for attacks on Iran, which would lead to a large regional war at best, and attacks on the homeland at worst. 

Are the warmongers going to get their wish? Probably not. I do think that there will be airstrikes after this attack, there pretty much has to be considering our response to these attacks in the past has been airstrikes, but I don't see much more beyond that. The risks of a major war with Iran are just too high. 

Some would say we are in a de facto war with Iran anyways, which is probably true. Though Iran hasn't attacked us or our troops directly, we are getting attacked by their proxies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, though the Houthis in Yemen are more independent than anyone gives them credit for. I doubt that these militias in Iraq and Syria are doing this on their own and they are absolutely getting their weapons from Iran. 

Speaking of weapons, this attack shows how powerful drones are in modern warfare. Such an attack on an American base would have been unthinkable a few years ago but they are now common. Most of them are not all that effective but this one resulted in deaths. They are extremely hard to defend against and I have heard rumors that our air defenses at Tower 22 was unable to intercept this attack, which would make sense given how weak American air defenses are. 

The real question is why the troops were in Jordan in the first place in this remote base. The answer is ostensibly to fight ISIS but ISIS has been defeated years ago. It really seems like all these troops are doing is drawing fire from Iranian backed militias. In a sane world people would be questioning that but apparently not, we just go along with it. 

I do think that we do have to respond in some way to this incident. After all US troops die. It's not like they shot down one of our drones, they killed three US soldiers. There has to be a response to that. And my guess that response will be bombing the bases of these militias. Will that accomplish anything? Probably not. It's very likely we will bomb some empty buildings and nothing will change. 

But it's not like there are any good options. Bombing Iran like the neocons want will lead to a major regional war. Given the fact that the US border is completely open and both Iran and Hezbollah have major forces in the United States as sleeper agents, we would have a major risk of widespread terror attacks on US civilians. Doing nothing isn't an option either so we are stuck with bombing the militias. 

Regardless, I don't see a way out of this. The war between Israel and Hamas is going to continue and it's likely that once they are done with Hamas they will likely go after Hezbollah in Lebanon. There isn't really a way out of this conflict for the United States, short of pulling our troops out of the region, which I can't see happening. As long as that is the case expect more of these drone attacks and more injuries and deaths among our troops.