Over the past two weeks, Iranian-trained, -funded, and -led Iraqi militias have engaged in several rocket attacks on US facilities in Iraq. One American US contractor has been killed, and 6 8 US civilian contractors and one US servicemember have been wounded. If you haven’t heard about it, there is a reason. No one in the media is paying any attention to the events.

After the fatal attack on the US facility at Erbil airbase, this is the kind of lame-ass statement the Biden coffee klatch came up with:

Report—#Iran-backed militias launched rocket attack targeting Erbil, northern #Iraq@OIRSpox—"Indirect Fire landed on Coalition Forces in Erbil tonight. There was 1 civilian contractor killed, 5 civilian contractors injured and 1 US service member injured. More info to follow." pic.twitter.com/ODJeFEXLlP

— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) February 16, 2021

Even the *rhetorical* response from the #Biden administration is weak.

Iraqi militias under the direction of #Iran fired rockets at an American base and our Kurdish allies and we don’t call them out. Instead we’ll basically form a committee.

Weakness emboldens our enemies. pic.twitter.com/tXPhHT2CyV

— Matthew RJ Brodsky (@RJBrodsky) February 16, 2021

The response to the last couple has been even weaker.

The latest strike, which a defense official initially said involved three rockets before the military clarified that it was two, could increase pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to warn Iran against dangerous activity in the region. Although the Shia militia group that claimed credit for the first attack is widely known to have close ties to Tehran, the Biden administration has refrained from pointing fingers.

U.S. officials said the intelligence does not yet point to a clear culprit and indicated they would let the Iraqis lead the investigation and any military response.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Monday declined to answer a question about whether U.S. officials planned to communicate to Iran that killing an American is a red line, as the previous administration did, though he said Washington’s view on Tehran’s activities is “perfectly clear.”

The unstated message in that last paragraph is that the Biden administration has not told Iran that killing Americans is a no-no…and they probably won’t.

This differs from the rocket attacks on US facilities in Iraq after a drone-fired Hellfire missile turned Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani and one of his Iraqi proteges into hamburger last January in two key respects. The US retaliated against the militias carrying out those strikes making it such an expensive hobby that they stopped shooting rockets at our bases. And the US media harped on those rocket attacks and casualties relentlessly.

What is going on is quite clear. The Biden bunch is trying to resurrect the failed Obama policy of recognizing an Iranian sphere of influence in Southwest Asia and the Middle East and helping them become a regional superpower…right down to possessing nuclear weapons. Last week, the Biden bunch reversed course on a Trump administration decision to reimpose some sanctions on Iran and removed travel restrictions against some Iranian diplomats that are intimately involved in terrorism and busting existing sanctions.

The Biden administration has reversed the Trump administration's moves to reimpose sanctions against Iran and has eased strict travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats at the United Nations. https://t.co/0lJ1nPp5sv

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 18, 2021

They did this without getting a single thing in return. It is hard to see the rocket attacks in Iraq as anything but a campaign by Iran, who knows the main players in Biden’s foreign policy to be weak and ineffectual surrender-monkeys, to intimidate Biden into making huge concessions as a price for getting Iran back inside the failed nuclear deal.

After the US lifts sanctions and rejoins the JCPOA, Iran will expect some form of compensa @AJEnglish https://t.co/1WKD8ZVhAl pic.twitter.com/JS7txfEsyy

— Abdalla Afgoye (@AbdallaWasiir) February 21, 2021

The American media hasn’t found any form of surrender that it was against since its starring role in the Vietnam War. They flew top cover for the Obama administration to prevent the American public from finding out what was in the Iran nuclear deal. They closed ranks in their unreasoning criticism of the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw and have belittled or minimized every revelation of Iranian duplicity in carrying out the deal when it was active. Under a Republican administration, the press would be howling over an American citizen’s death at the hands of Iranian proxies. But because doing so might force someone Biden has appointed to take any action that would endanger the grand rapprochement with Iran that the press is cheering to happen, it is all being ignored.

UPDATE

…someone is watching

From my email last night:

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Sir:

I am the Public Affairs Officer and Spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

I am writing in regards to the article by streiff on 24FEB21 “Biden and His Enablers Kowtow to Iranian Attacks on American Facilities and the Media Covers For Him”.

The second sentence contains an error. It is not correct that an American was killed by the IDF attack at Erbil. The contractor who was killed by the IDF was from the Philippines and was a fireman.

On a follow on tweet I specified that the contractor who was killed was not U.S.

I hope you may correct the error. Thank you.

Wayne Marotto

Colonel, U.S. Army

Director of Public Affairs and Spokesperson

Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR)

Baghdad DSN: 318-239-1363 | Baghdad SVOIP: 308-239-1097

WhatsApp:  +1-703-400-1813

NIPR: [email protected]

SIPR: [email protected]

BICES:  [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CJTFOIR

Spokesman’s Twitter:  @OIRspox   CJTF Twitter:  @CJTFOIR

Website: https://www.inherentresolve.mil

None of the news reports I consulted referred to any foreign nationals being killed, see, for instance, the New York Times story Rocket Attack in Iraq Kills a U.S. Military Contractor.

This is the tweet Colonel Marotto sent in regards to the incident.

Initial reports that Indirect Fire landed on Coalition Forces in Erbil tonight. There was 1 civilian contractor killed, 5 civilian contractors injured and 1 US service member injured. More information to follow.

— OIR Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto (@OIRSpox) February 15, 2021

It was followed up the next day with this:

Update: CJTF-OIR confirms approx. 14 107 mm rockets launched with 3 impacting within EAB, Feb 15 at 2130 hours (Iraqi time).
One civilian contractor was killed (Not US), and 9 injured ( 8 CIV contractors/ 1 US MIL) – 4 US/ 1 US MIL concussion protocol.

— OIR Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto (@OIRSpox) February 16, 2021

Your interpretation of “4 US/1 US MIL” is as good as mine…I’m assuming that is a subset of the 9 injured but because they are referred to as “CIV” in one instance and “US” in the other, I’m not sure. I’d also note that the description of the man killed by the Iranian-inspired militia as “from the Philippines and was a fireman,” isn’t terribly useful and was not reported in the media.

The larger point remains. US troops and persons employed by the US military were attacked. Some were killed and wounded. The story died within hours, if not minutes, of it taking place. No retaliation was taken against the attacking force. And, apparently, the Biden administration no longer recognizes killing or wounding US military personnel as a “red line” in our relationship with Iran because the administration’s focus is on mollifying Iran and trying to get them back to the bazaar.