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January 1, 2020

Trump stands tall against Iranian attacks in Iraq

By Andrea Widburg

This morning, many of us awoke to the news that a mob composed of an Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters had targeted the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad.  The attack was the third phase in a series of back-and-forths between the United States and Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iraq-based branch of Hezbollah, Iran’s overseas terrorist organization.

Kataeb Hebollah had attacked an Iraqi base, killing an American contractor, as well as wounding many others.  On Sunday, the U.S. launched a responsive airstrike that killed 25 Kataeb Hezbollah fighters.  It was this airstrike that the mob used Tuesday to justify attacking the American embassy (which, is should be noted, is the same as attacking American soil directly).

In an early morning tweet on Tuesday, President Trump pithily brought the world up to date about events:

President Trump also tweeted out more specific information about the attack on the American embassy in Baghdad.  He assured the world that Embassy personnel were safe, that the Embassy’s security had been reinforced, and that Iran could expect a certain and serious reprisal for the attack it had launched on American soil:

Within a short time of the President’s text messages, the Marine Corps Times posted an article detailing the support the Marines are delivering to the embassy in Baghdad:

A detachment of 100 Marines is deploying to Iraq to reinforce security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after Iraqi protesters supportive of an Iran-backed Shiite militia attempted to storm the compound, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday. All U.S. personnel are secure and there are no plans to evacuate the embassy, the State Department told Military Times in a Tuesday email. The State Department added that the U.S. ambassador for Iraq, Matt Tueller, is returning to the embassy from previously scheduled personal travel. The Marines were requested by the U.S. State Department and their deployment was approved by Iraqi Security Forces, Central Command spokesman Mike Lawhorn told Military Times by phone Tuesday. Two Apache attack helicopters are providing over watch.

In addition to putting boots on the ground (and helicopters in the air) as fast as possible, Trump also let it be known that he was stacking up troops as close to Iran as possible:

The U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s alert brigade has been issued orders to deploy rapidly to Kuwait amid the unrest in Baghdad, three U.S. defense officials told Fox News on Tuesday.

At least 750 paratroopers are set to deploy to the region immediately, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement.

The alert brigade of roughly 4,000 paratroopers, known as the DRB -- the Deployment Ready Brigade -- has been told to prepare for a possible deployment in the days ahead after hundreds of Iranian-backed militiamen tried to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad Tuesday.

Within that alert brigade, three rifle battalions had a certain alert sequence, 18 hours, 36 hours and 54 hours for the third. The entire brigade had a 96-hour alert window to deploy.

People on Twitter immediately noticed the difference between Trump’s immediate and overwhelming responses, both to the initial Kataeb Hezbollah attack and to the attack on the Embassy:

Trump himself is of course fully cognizant of the fact that he is blazing a different trail from that taken by Obama and Carter in the face of Iranian aggression:

During World War I, the British had a saying about the Germans:  “The Hun is either at your throat or at your feet.”   The point was that Germany was not an egalitarian society.  If it felt that another nation was weak, it would pounce.

Osama bin Laden said much the same when he summed up the Arab world:   “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.”  After eight years of Obama’s weak horse, one that spent its time nuzzling Iran’s feet, Trump’s aggressive approach will show whether a stronger approach will bring Iran to heel.

This morning, many of us awoke to the news that a mob composed of an Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters had targeted the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad.  The attack was the third phase in a series of back-and-forths between the United States and Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iraq-based branch of Hezbollah, Iran’s overseas terrorist organization.

Kataeb Hebollah had attacked an Iraqi base, killing an American contractor, as well as wounding many others.  On Sunday, the U.S. launched a responsive airstrike that killed 25 Kataeb Hezbollah fighters.  It was this airstrike that the mob used Tuesday to justify attacking the American embassy (which, is should be noted, is the same as attacking American soil directly).

In an early morning tweet on Tuesday, President Trump pithily brought the world up to date about events:

President Trump also tweeted out more specific information about the attack on the American embassy in Baghdad.  He assured the world that Embassy personnel were safe, that the Embassy’s security had been reinforced, and that Iran could expect a certain and serious reprisal for the attack it had launched on American soil:

Within a short time of the President’s text messages, the Marine Corps Times posted an article detailing the support the Marines are delivering to the embassy in Baghdad:

A detachment of 100 Marines is deploying to Iraq to reinforce security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after Iraqi protesters supportive of an Iran-backed Shiite militia attempted to storm the compound, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday. All U.S. personnel are secure and there are no plans to evacuate the embassy, the State Department told Military Times in a Tuesday email. The State Department added that the U.S. ambassador for Iraq, Matt Tueller, is returning to the embassy from previously scheduled personal travel. The Marines were requested by the U.S. State Department and their deployment was approved by Iraqi Security Forces, Central Command spokesman Mike Lawhorn told Military Times by phone Tuesday. Two Apache attack helicopters are providing over watch.

In addition to putting boots on the ground (and helicopters in the air) as fast as possible, Trump also let it be known that he was stacking up troops as close to Iran as possible:

The U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s alert brigade has been issued orders to deploy rapidly to Kuwait amid the unrest in Baghdad, three U.S. defense officials told Fox News on Tuesday.

At least 750 paratroopers are set to deploy to the region immediately, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement.

The alert brigade of roughly 4,000 paratroopers, known as the DRB -- the Deployment Ready Brigade -- has been told to prepare for a possible deployment in the days ahead after hundreds of Iranian-backed militiamen tried to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad Tuesday.

Within that alert brigade, three rifle battalions had a certain alert sequence, 18 hours, 36 hours and 54 hours for the third. The entire brigade had a 96-hour alert window to deploy.

People on Twitter immediately noticed the difference between Trump’s immediate and overwhelming responses, both to the initial Kataeb Hezbollah attack and to the attack on the Embassy:

Trump himself is of course fully cognizant of the fact that he is blazing a different trail from that taken by Obama and Carter in the face of Iranian aggression:

During World War I, the British had a saying about the Germans:  “The Hun is either at your throat or at your feet.”   The point was that Germany was not an egalitarian society.  If it felt that another nation was weak, it would pounce.

Osama bin Laden said much the same when he summed up the Arab world:   “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.”  After eight years of Obama’s weak horse, one that spent its time nuzzling Iran’s feet, Trump’s aggressive approach will show whether a stronger approach will bring Iran to heel.