After a drone attack in Jordan blamed on pro-Iranian groups that killed three American soldiers, Democratic President Joe Biden is being pressured by his opponents to respond with a heavy-handed attack on Iranian territory. A few months before the presidential election, Donald Trump, the heavy favorite in the Republican primary and likely opponent of Joe Biden in the November election, has already taken up the matter.
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Is Joe Biden in a Weak Position Compared to Iran? In any case, opponents of the Democratic president, who is seeking a second term, are hammering home, urging a strong response to the deaths of three American soldiers in Jordan on Monday, January 29.
Colin Clark, director of research at the Soufen Center, a New York-based think tank, analyzed that Democrats “only have blows.”
The White House blamed pro-Iranian groups for the drone strike targeting a base in northeastern Jordan. Joe Biden promised that America would “respond,” and that the response would be “consequences,” the executive’s spokesman, John Kirby, assured Monday.
However, he vehemently rejected the idea that election campaigns would dictate the conduct of an American president. Joe Biden “doesn’t pay attention to elections or the election calendar when he works to keep our troops (…) safe. It would be insulting to imply otherwise”, he said during a press conference.
“Under penalty of being overwhelmed by Republicans in the middle of an election year, Joe Biden has little choice but to respond,” according to Colin Clark, who might say that under Biden, troops are dying and there’s no strong response. , while Trump in January 2020 The former architect of Iranian military strategy targeted by American strikes (General Qassem) eliminated Soleimani.
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“Weak” and “cowardly”, according to Republicans
The former Republican president, a heavy favorite in his party’s primary and potential challenger to Joe Biden in the November election, has already raised the issue. He described his 81-year-old Democratic opponent as “weak” and assured that the attack would “never happen” under his command.
The 77-year-old Republican takes this as an opportunity to uphold his campaign narrative: He presents himself as a strong providential man, able to ensure America’s security by his sole authority, without getting involved in world-shaking conflicts. .
Without a strong response against Iran, “Joe Biden will confirm that he is a coward, unfit to be commander in chief of the armed forces”, raged Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas.
But by fighting back, Joe Biden risks alienating the Democratic Party’s progressive fringe, and “he can’t afford to lose too many votes, at a time when he’s already struggled to write a blank check with young people and those who criticize him.” Israel” in its war against Hamas, underlines Colin Clarke.
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Criticism of Joe Biden’s Iran policy as complacent is not new, but the conflict in the Gaza Strip, fueled by attacks by a Tehran-backed Palestinian group, has reignited them.
American defeat in Afghanistan
Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham noted, “(the Biden administration’s) deterrence strategy has failed miserably. There have been more than 100 attacks against American troops in the region since October 7.” So far, no casualties have been reported in any of these attacks.
However, this is not the first time that Joe Biden’s mandate has been shaken by the death of American soldiers. On August 26, 2021, against the backdrop of a chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, an attack near Kabul airport killed 173 people, including 13 American soldiers.
It was at this moment that, for the first time, Joe Biden’s popularity curves were reversed, with unfavorable opinions taking precedence over favorable opinions. Dissatisfaction was then confirmed, fueled by very high inflation, and the president today shows an anemic confidence rating.
Also readThe defeat of the United States in Afghanistan: a disaster forecast
The Democrat justified the withdrawal from Afghanistan by not wanting to endanger the lives of American troops.
This was one of the big promises of his previous presidential campaign: in a foreign policy speech in July 2019, candidate Joe Biden promised that, if elected, he would end “(America’s) endless wars” in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
with AFP
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