The drone strike that struck near the sleeping quarters of a small US outpost in northeastern Jordan, killing three American troops in the process, has landed like a thud in the corridors of the Biden administration. Hawkish lawmakers who have been jonesing to bomb Iran into the Stone Age for years, such as Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, are using the weekend’s travesty to push the argument to an even higher decibel. The logic: Iran and its proxies need to understand that the US won’t be pushed around. It’s an emotionally satisfying response, but one that could get the United States into a heap of trouble if not thought through and tailored appropriately.
President Biden and his advisors have spent the last forty-eight hours talking through options. There is no question the US will retaliate in some fashion. Biden said this morning that he has already made up his mind.
But there are a multitude of ways America could take action, and to date the White House has kept its cards close to its chest. The Pentagon’s spokeswoman has merely said the US will strike back “at a time and place of our choosing,” which is a bit like saying the sky is blue and the Earth is round. Secretary of state Antony Blinken gave a bit more detail as to what the response could look like, telling reporters that it “could be multi-leveled, come in stages and be sustained over time.”
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