useapen
2023-10-29 04:29:35 UTC
Caught off-guard by the stunning and savage Hamas attacks into Israel and
unprepared for the resultant chaos, the Biden administration now faces a
Middle East at war and on the brink of a catastrophe.
Despite denying any involvement in the attack, Irans Ayatollah Khamenei
openly praised Hamas for it and suggested that a bloody Israeli ground
invasion into Gaza may trigger Iranian entry into the fighting. Irans
foreign minister darkly warned of a multi-front regional war against
Israel. Meanwhile, tensions mount and rockets fly along Israels northern
border as fears grow of an attack into Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah.
The grotesque images resulting from the massive blast on the Al-Ahli
Baptist Hospital in Gaza will serve as a clarion call to more terror
groups in the region to enter the fighting.
As senior U.S. administration officials and then President Biden himself
raced to the region in a frantic effort to limit the size and scale of the
conflict, it became clear that the administrations minimalist Middle East
policy is a calamitous failure. For two years, Biden and the National
Security Council sought to increase focus on China and Russia while
limiting focus on the Middle East. This was a strategic misstep that seems
likely to force a reorganization of foreign policy.
After years of pulling forces out of the region, the Pentagon is now
rushing to put them back. In response to the Israel-Hamas war, the
Pentagon dispatched two aircraft carrier strike groups. One of them, the
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, was slated to participate in a NATO exercise,
but has now been diverted from Europe toward the Middle East.
Two carrier strike groups represent a massive American force: two dozen
ships, more than 140 aircraft and more than 20,000 troops. Meanwhile, the
USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, has begun moving closer to
Israels shores, potentially to aid in the evacuation of Americans if the
situation escalates further.
Air assets, including A-10 attack aircraft and F-15 and F-16 jet fighters,
have been redirected back to the Persian Gulf, reinforcing the U.S.
military presence in the region. A ground force of thousands of Marines is
streaming toward the region as a show of force to keep Iran at bay.
The White House has announced these ships, planes and people are in the
region temporarily, but some are almost certain to remain for many months
to come. The risk of a strike by Iran or an Iranian proxy group will
remain far too great beyond the immediate crisis.
In 2021, the U.S. had two carrier strike groups committed to the Middle
East. Theyve both since been redeployed, along with many other naval
assets in the region, toward the Indo Pacific to counter China. This move
of military power was consistent with Bidens 2022 National Security
Strategy, which focuses heavily on American competition with China and
does not mention the Middle East until page 42 of 48. The National
Security Strategy historically communicates a presidents national
security priorities, philosophy and strategic vision. The few glancing
references to the region disclosed much about this administrations view
of the Middle East.
From its inception, the Biden administration immediately sought to achieve
a key Obama foreign policy objective by refocusing military resources away
from the Middle East and toward countering Chinas growing influence. The
Obama Cabinet sought to prioritize great power competition with Beijing
while ending our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, crises in the region
the Syrian Civil War, the stunning rise and sweep of ISIS and unrest in
Libya pulled the Obama White House back into the Middle East.
Like Obama, Trumps foreign policy prioritized countering Chinese
influence around the world, investing in new technology, critical
capabilities and assets in space. Once again, Irans nuclear ambitions and
support for terror groups in the region and its brazen 2019 attack on a
Saudi oil facility, forced a push of forces to include a carrier strike
group quickly back into the Middle East.
Beginning in 2021, the Biden team tried a more hands-off approach,
cobbling together a regional security framework that tied Arab militaries
to the Israel Defense Force in a partnership focused on hedging against
Irans most destructive impulses. Biden pulled all American forces out of
Afghanistan a messy, chaotic, and tragic endeavor that sharply limits
Americas ability to monitor and fight ISIS in that country. Secretary of
Defense Lloyd Austin withdrew significant air defense assets, including
more than eight Patriot missile batteries, from the Middle East.
Once again, Washington is being forced to realize that the Middle East
demands a sizable U.S. military presence. The region is simply too
volatile, too important, and too complex to be left without a strong
American hand. It cannot be relegated to the periphery of American
strategic vision.
However this current crisis ends, the U.S. must ensure that while we look
to the Indo-Pacific, we remain steadfast in our commitment to stability
and peace in the Middle East. The U.S. simply cannot deter Iran and its
proxy forces without American power permanently in the Middle East.
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4269883-bidens-minimalist-
middle-east-policy-is-a-big-failure/
unprepared for the resultant chaos, the Biden administration now faces a
Middle East at war and on the brink of a catastrophe.
Despite denying any involvement in the attack, Irans Ayatollah Khamenei
openly praised Hamas for it and suggested that a bloody Israeli ground
invasion into Gaza may trigger Iranian entry into the fighting. Irans
foreign minister darkly warned of a multi-front regional war against
Israel. Meanwhile, tensions mount and rockets fly along Israels northern
border as fears grow of an attack into Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah.
The grotesque images resulting from the massive blast on the Al-Ahli
Baptist Hospital in Gaza will serve as a clarion call to more terror
groups in the region to enter the fighting.
As senior U.S. administration officials and then President Biden himself
raced to the region in a frantic effort to limit the size and scale of the
conflict, it became clear that the administrations minimalist Middle East
policy is a calamitous failure. For two years, Biden and the National
Security Council sought to increase focus on China and Russia while
limiting focus on the Middle East. This was a strategic misstep that seems
likely to force a reorganization of foreign policy.
After years of pulling forces out of the region, the Pentagon is now
rushing to put them back. In response to the Israel-Hamas war, the
Pentagon dispatched two aircraft carrier strike groups. One of them, the
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, was slated to participate in a NATO exercise,
but has now been diverted from Europe toward the Middle East.
Two carrier strike groups represent a massive American force: two dozen
ships, more than 140 aircraft and more than 20,000 troops. Meanwhile, the
USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, has begun moving closer to
Israels shores, potentially to aid in the evacuation of Americans if the
situation escalates further.
Air assets, including A-10 attack aircraft and F-15 and F-16 jet fighters,
have been redirected back to the Persian Gulf, reinforcing the U.S.
military presence in the region. A ground force of thousands of Marines is
streaming toward the region as a show of force to keep Iran at bay.
The White House has announced these ships, planes and people are in the
region temporarily, but some are almost certain to remain for many months
to come. The risk of a strike by Iran or an Iranian proxy group will
remain far too great beyond the immediate crisis.
In 2021, the U.S. had two carrier strike groups committed to the Middle
East. Theyve both since been redeployed, along with many other naval
assets in the region, toward the Indo Pacific to counter China. This move
of military power was consistent with Bidens 2022 National Security
Strategy, which focuses heavily on American competition with China and
does not mention the Middle East until page 42 of 48. The National
Security Strategy historically communicates a presidents national
security priorities, philosophy and strategic vision. The few glancing
references to the region disclosed much about this administrations view
of the Middle East.
From its inception, the Biden administration immediately sought to achieve
a key Obama foreign policy objective by refocusing military resources away
from the Middle East and toward countering Chinas growing influence. The
Obama Cabinet sought to prioritize great power competition with Beijing
while ending our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, crises in the region
the Syrian Civil War, the stunning rise and sweep of ISIS and unrest in
Libya pulled the Obama White House back into the Middle East.
Like Obama, Trumps foreign policy prioritized countering Chinese
influence around the world, investing in new technology, critical
capabilities and assets in space. Once again, Irans nuclear ambitions and
support for terror groups in the region and its brazen 2019 attack on a
Saudi oil facility, forced a push of forces to include a carrier strike
group quickly back into the Middle East.
Beginning in 2021, the Biden team tried a more hands-off approach,
cobbling together a regional security framework that tied Arab militaries
to the Israel Defense Force in a partnership focused on hedging against
Irans most destructive impulses. Biden pulled all American forces out of
Afghanistan a messy, chaotic, and tragic endeavor that sharply limits
Americas ability to monitor and fight ISIS in that country. Secretary of
Defense Lloyd Austin withdrew significant air defense assets, including
more than eight Patriot missile batteries, from the Middle East.
Once again, Washington is being forced to realize that the Middle East
demands a sizable U.S. military presence. The region is simply too
volatile, too important, and too complex to be left without a strong
American hand. It cannot be relegated to the periphery of American
strategic vision.
However this current crisis ends, the U.S. must ensure that while we look
to the Indo-Pacific, we remain steadfast in our commitment to stability
and peace in the Middle East. The U.S. simply cannot deter Iran and its
proxy forces without American power permanently in the Middle East.
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4269883-bidens-minimalist-
middle-east-policy-is-a-big-failure/