Republican lawmakers tricked President Biden on Friday over his response to drone and missile strikes by Iranian-backed militants in Syria that killed a US contractor and injured six other Americans.
The Pentagon said Thursday that the 80-year-old president ordered retaliatory airstrikes in response to a deadly drone strike on a coalition base in eastern Syria. US airstrikes reportedly killed 11 people, including six confirmed pro-Iranian fighters and two Syrians.
On Friday, Iranian-backed proxy forces responded to US air strikes by firing missiles at a US base in northeastern Syria. White House national security spokesman John Kirby called the Iranian-backed missiles “completely ineffective” and noted that no U.S. personnel were harmed.
Iranian proxies have carried out drone or missile attacks on US troops in the Middle East 78 times since early 2021, according to US Central Command, not counting strikes on Thursday and Friday. Many Republicans have wondered why Biden has not responded with more force to previous and up to date attacks.
![President Joe Biden speaks at the Affordable Care Act Anniversary Event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Thursday, March 23, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/republicans-1.jpg?w=1024)
![General Mark Alexander Milley, 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/republicans-7.jpg?w=1024)
Senator Lindsey Graham (RSC) criticized Biden’s response as “weak” in a tweet on Friday.
“President Biden and his national security team are failing America,” Graham wrote.
“I’m concerned that General Milley and Secretary of Defense Austin is not going to be up to the duty of providing the deterrence America needs to stay secure. But the last word fault for the failure of foreign policy and the military situation we discover ourselves in now lies with President Biden,” he continued.
“President Biden owes these Americans fighting radical Islam a vigorous response to any attack on them and their position by Iranian proxies. The weak, hesitant response to the primary attack apparently didn’t work,” Graham argued.
![South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham speaks at the Palmetto Family Council's national conservative political forum Vision 24 in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., Saturday, March 18, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/republicans-8.jpg?w=1024)
“America has just one avenue available when attacked – respond quickly and vigorously with overwhelming, punitive force designed to discourage enemies from making contact with america. Being strong is the perfect deterrent against future attacks.”
Graham’s colleague, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), argued Friday that Biden’s retaliatory strikes were too small and overdue, saying the administration failed to respond to several attacks by Iranian proxies before Thursday’s drone strike.
“Indefensible that American lives must die before Joe Biden takes motion,” Cotton he wrote in a tweet. “Had he responded forcefully to the handfuls of previous Iranian attacks, this tragedy might have been prevented. [Austin] must explain why it just isn’t doing more to deter Iran.”
![Senator Tom Cotton, Republican from Arkansas, speaks at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing confirming the candidacy of Texas Representative John Ratcliffe in Washington, U.S., Tuesday, May 5, 2020.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/republicans-5.jpg?w=1024)
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) criticized Biden for failing to implement sanctions against the Iranian regime and accused the president of adhering to the “concession doctrine.”
“Iranian proxies have attacked US troops nearly 80 times. What did President Biden do about it? Clinging to Iran in hopes of a fantastic and flawed “nuclear deal” and never hitting the Iranian regime where it hurts, in their wallets, by enforcing much-needed sanctions,” Ernst he wrote in a tweet Friday.
“Administrator Biden’s continuation of the appeasement doctrine has cost American lives and encouraged our opponents,” she argued.
The president said during speeches in Canada on Friday that america just isn’t “in search of conflict with Iran” but is ready to “protect our people.”
“That is exactly what happened last night,” Biden said, referring to US retaliatory airstrikes. “We’ll proceed our efforts to counter terrorist threats in the region.”