(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Neocons from both major U.S. political parties are calling for war with Iran after three American servicemen were killed, and over 30 were injured, by an Iran-backed militia group in Jordan on Sunday—eliciting a strong reaction from one of the GOP’s leading non-interventionist voices.
“F—ing lunatics,” former Fox News broadcaster Tucker Carlson said Sunday, after GOP leaders Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, both called for direct strikes on Iran.
Carlson followed up on his brief but telling statement with an interview Monday with U.S. combat veteran Joe Kent, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress as an anti-war Republican in 2022.
Ep. 69 War with Iran? Yes. We’re already in it. Joe Kent did 11 combat tours in the U.S. Army. His wife Shannon was killed serving in Syria. Here’s his informed view of what that war will mean. pic.twitter.com/5yNCDc37Gb
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 29, 2024
Kent accused the U.S. of leaving troops in the Middle East as ‘bait’ to use as an excuse for war.
“If you look at the full scope of the way we’ve arranged ourselves in the Middle East … We have left them there as bait to be killed by Iranians at the time and place of their choosing, so we can continue to escalate towards a conflict with Iran,” Kent said.
Kent’s statements echoed what Headline USA reported last Tuesday in an article titled, Biden Using U.S. Troops as Bait for Iran—which reported on Biden administration officials saying that the U.S. will go to war with Iran if a single U.S. troop is killed by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq or Syria.
According to the New York Times, Iranian-backed militias had already carried out 140 attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria as of Thursday, with nearly 70 U.S. personnel wounded, some of them suffering traumatic brain injuries.
“Biden administration officials have regularly debated the proper strategy. They do not want to let such attacks go without a response, but on the other hand do not want to go so far that the conflict would escalate into a full-fledged war, particularly by striking Iran directly,” the Times reported Jan. 21.
“They privately say they may have no choice, however, if American troops are killed. That is a red line that has not been crossed, but if the Iranian-backed militias ever have a day of better aim or better luck, it easily could be.”
Kent told Carlson that rather than directly attacking Iran, the U.S. should engage in targeted strikes on Iran-backed militias while also pulling its troops from the Middle East.
“We do need to strike back, but if we start taking strikes within Iran itself, that is exactly what the Iranian regime wants. They will benefit from that if we start attacking Iran the way we did Iraq and Afghanistan, then the Iranian government, the people will rally around them in support,” Kent said.
“We should be making calculated strikes against Iranian proxy groups, and then we should immediately get our troops out of these foolish locations before we lose more blood and treasure for no reason, and before we’re sucked further into a regional war.”
The Biden administration has signaled that it will withdraw troops from Iraq and Syria, but it’s not clear how the recent attack in Jordan affects those plans.
Biden, in response, has assured that the U.S. will “respond” to those responsible for the deadly drone attack.
“While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.
“Together, we will keep the sacred obligation we bear to their families,” Biden added. “We will strive to be worthy of their honor and valor. We will carry on their commitment to fight terrorism. And have no doubt — we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
