GOP Criticize Biden Administration After Aggression on Iraq, Syria

By Al Mayadeen English

Prominent American officials criticize President Biden's administration, accusing it of failure and delays in responding to 'threats', particularly in the context of the recent aggression against Iraq and Syria.

Senator Roger Wicker, the leading Republican on the Armed Services Committee in the US Senate, criticized the Biden administration. He expressed discontent, noting that the administration dedicated time to ensuring the evacuation of the targeted sites in its aggression against Iraq and Syria.

Wicker conveyed his criticism through a statement on X, stating, "Iran and its proxies have tried to kill American soldiers and sink our warships 165 times while the Biden administration congratulates itself for doing the bare minimum."

He added, “The Biden administration spent nearly a week telegraphing US intentions to our adversaries, giving them time to relocate and hide,” in a clear indication that Washington is seeking to ensure the evacuation of any sites it plans on targeting. 

CNN quoted US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who asserted that the Biden administration waited a week before responding to the attacks targeting US forces in Jordan.

Johnson mentioned that the US administration has informed the world, including Iran, about the nature of the attack it intends to undertake, stressing in his statements that “the Biden administration’s excessive signals weaken America’s position.”

Republicans say 'strikes' are 'too little, five days too late'

The House Republican says airstrikes authorized by Biden against Syria are 'too little, five days too late'.

“The Iranians did not warn our forces before killing them,” Representative Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, said in a statement. “These strikes are better than nothing, but they are too little and five days too late.”

Representative Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, said in a statement that the US "strikes" are better than nothing and mentioned that the Iranians did not warn US forces "before killing them," possibly referring to what some US officials consider as a "delayed" response. 

Florida Rep. Mike Waltz said he was interested in whether the air strikes would impose any "real costs" on Iran. Waltz expressed interest in observing the impact that the Biden administration's "deployment of these strikes over the last five days" will have on their ability to impose tangible costs on Iran.

Representative Carlos Gimenez, Republican of Florida, said Biden's weakness "emboldened the enemies of freedom" to target the United States and its soldiers.

“Biden’s failure to isolate the regime in Iran, eliminate Hamas, and support our strategic partners in the Middle East has emboldened enemies of freedom to target, attack, and kill American forces,” Jimenez said in a statement.

He continued: “President Biden is weak and our enemies know that. His misguided foreign policy has led to these attacks against the United States. Biden lifted President Trump's sanctions on Iran which were among the most effective in history. Oil sanctions should be immediately reimposed on the Iranian regime, and Biden should have taken action much sooner to adequately deter further attacks from Iran and its terrorist proxies."

British military analyst: The “strikes” are not a big surprise

The British Sky News channel reported an analysis by British military analyst Sean Bell, in which he emphasized that the United States, in his view, "does not want to make a bad situation worse." Bell indicated that the US recognizes the events concerning its forces as "symptoms, not the disease," highlighting that the actual "disease" lies in the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.

Bell considered that the American “strikes” were not a big surprise, but the surprise was that it took a long time before they happened.

The military analyst believed that the United States knows that it is in trouble, and was forced to take action after the killing of its soldiers last week in Jordan, stressing that “part of what we see is a very calculated and studied response.”

Bell added, “Iran has been very clear in its position, which is that if you stop the Israeli war on Gaza, we will stop the escalation,” considering that the United States is “desperately trying to provide a military response to what is happening.”

He also noted, "It is truly intriguing to observe the challenging predicament in which Americans currently find themselves."