After a stock market nosedive and the presidential election dominated American attention on Monday, the Biden-Harris administration received a brutal reminder that the nation’s enemies globally haven’t taken a break.
Multiple members of the American military and contractors were wounded in a rocket attack on a base in western Iraq, according to news reports.
And a radical Islamic group — backed by Iran — has claimed responsibility.
The New York Times cited “initial reports” to state five were injured, but did not have details on the extent of those injuries.
President Joe Biden’s account on the social media platform X published a picture showing Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris gathered with top administration officials in the White House Situation Room.
Earlier, @VP and I were briefed in the Situation Room on developments in the Middle East.
We received updates on threats posed by Iran and its proxies, diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, and preparations to support Israel should it be attacked again.
We also… pic.twitter.com/kbRcVkW3ex
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 5, 2024
“We received updates on threats posed by Iran and its proxies, diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, and preparations to support Israel should it be attacked again,” the post stated.
“We also discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack against our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing.”
Many users weren’t impressed.
It would be hard for any picture to inspire less confidence
We’re screwed pic.twitter.com/ywX99KMeRr— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) August 5, 2024
Care to stand in front of the American People to address the nation about what is unfolding all over the world and take questions?
— Moral Authority Complex (@EhOHSeeLogic) August 5, 2024
Your response will be weak and lacking any backbone. Kind of like all of your responses.
— General™️ (@TheGeneral_0) August 5, 2024
The attack comes as the Israeli war against the terrorist group Hamas threatens to become an open regional conflict.
The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week is widely attributed to Israel (though Jerusalem has not commented, according to The New York Times). In Lebanon, a leader of the terrorist group Fuad Shukr was killed by an Israel Defense Forces strike, according to the Times of Israel.
Has the world become less safe for Americans during Biden’s presidency?
In April, Iran launched a massive attack of missiles and drones against Israel after a suspect Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria killed several officials, including a top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, an elite Iranian military branch.
And while it wasn’t clear that Monday’s rocket attack was direct retaliation for the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders last week, it’s all part of the same war — the war of Iran and Iranian proxies against the West, primarily Israel and the United States.
With the U.S. in a presidential election campaign pitting Harris against former President Donald Trump, drastically different approaches to foreign policy are on the line — Trump’s years of the U.S. projecting strength and achieving real milestones toward peace in the Middle East through the Abraham Accords versus the Biden record of weakness and appeasement.
Monday’s massive stock market selloff made for bad headlines for the Harris campaign — the economy is the number one issue for American voters. (Those headlines would have been much worse if Harris were a Republican.)
News of Monday’s attack — putting a focus on the failures of the Biden-Harris administration in foreign policy — isn’t likely to help.
