STRIKE AFTERMATH — A few questions to ponder after yesterday’s action:
1. Where’s Biden?
The U.S. hit 85 targets in seven locations in Syria and Iraq over the course of 30 minutes yesterday. The strikes began after Biden returned to his home in Delaware after meeting with the families of the three service members killed last weekend as their remains arrived at Dover Air Force Base.
There was no public appearance by the president to announce these potentially escalatory strikes. No Oval Office address. No on-camera statement. Instead the news was delivered via virtual briefings and a news release from Biden, in which he said the strikes “will continue at times and places of our choosing.”
“The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world,” he added. “But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”
For a public perhaps bewildered about (1) the mission of the Americans who were killed in Jordan or (2) the ramifications of what is starting to look more like a multi-front war, Biden has had remarkably little to say. This afternoon, he leaves for private campaign-related meetings in Los Angeles. Tomorrow, he raises money in Las Vegas.
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