As Paul noted a little while ago, pro-Iran militia forces known as Kataeb Hezbollah have besieged the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. They are being referred to in news accounts a “protesters,” but in fact they are a trained and organized military force. The attackers breached the outer wall of the embassy compound and then milled around, set fires, etc.
Apparently many liberals are trying to portray this attack as Trump’s Benghazi; “Benghazi” is now the most trending word on Twitter, with 231,000 tweets. There is, of course, no analogy: President Trump has not ignored calls for help, and instead has sent Marines to reinforce the embassy’s guards and Iraqi troops. So far, there have been no American casualties.
Trump has been tweeting up a storm today. Some, but by no means most of his tweets have related to the Iranian military operation in Baghdad. Here they are, in chronological order, with a few retweets left out:
Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
To those many millions of people in Iraq who want freedom and who don’t want to be dominated and controlled by Iran, this is your time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq is, & has been for hours, SAFE! Many of our great Warfighters, together with the most lethal military equipment in the world, was immediately rushed to the site. Thank you to the President & Prime Minister of Iraq for their rapid response upon request….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
….Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
The Anti-Benghazi!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
You probably have seen video of the embassy attack, but if you haven’t, this four-minute summary from the Washington Post isn’t bad:
As usual, the Daily Mail has the best pictures, for example:
Many more at the link. All of this has to do with the fact that Iran’s leaders are feeling the heat of President Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign. Last Friday, a missile strike by Iran or one of its proxies on a military installation in Kirkuk killed a civilian American contractor and wounded several American, as well as Iraqi, troops. In retaliation, the U.S. carried out strikes that killed 25 Kataeb Hezbollah members. Iran responded with today’s embassy attack. President Trump vowed further retaliation via the tweet above. I assume it will be forthcoming.
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