The recent spate of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthis has resulted in more and more Congressional calls for the US military to act. Even after dozens of incidents, which have effectively closed the vital waterway to regular ship transit, the US Navy has not been authorized by the Biden administration to hit back directly on Houthi launch positions.
Some Republican hawks are clamoring for confrontation with Tehran, also at a moment that Iran’s most powerful poxy in the region – Lebanese Hezbollah – is engaging in daily fire at Israel’s northern border. Sen. Lindsey Graham is leading the charge, urging for the Pentagon bomb Iran directly in response to the Houthi Red Sea attacks. In an appearance on Fox & Friends days ago, he went so far as to say Iranian bases and oil fields should be blown “off the map”. Watch:
NEW – Lindsey Graham: “Hit Iran… blow it off the map.” pic.twitter.com/5dfhVQOcja
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 28, 2023
“Without Iran there are no Houthis,” he claimed in the Wednesday segment. “The Houthis are completely backed by Iran. I have been saying for six months now…hit Iran. They have oil fields out in the open, they have the Revolutionary Guard headquarters you can see from space. Blow it off the map.”
Predictably, Graham also lashed out at the Biden administration for holding back, even as some Pentagon leaders have quietly complained they are being handcuffed in terms of an inability to respond:
“We’re fighting the Houthis. We beat the Germans and the Japanese. We should be able to beat the Houthis. Secretary Austin and the Biden administration’s failing our troops in the field,” the Senator from South Carolina added.
Graham has previously in the wake of the Oct.7 Hamas terror attacks advocated for Israel hitting back against Palestinian militants as hard as possible, controversially saying saying there’s “no limit” to how many civilians can be killed while trying to root out Hamas.
Here’s what he told CNN at the end of October:
CNN host: “Is there a threshold for you, and do you think there should be one for the United States government, in which the US would say, ‘Let’s hold off for a second in terms of civilian casualties?’”
Graham said: “No. If somebody asked us after world war two, ‘Is there a limit what would you do to make sure that Japan and Germany don’t conquer the world? Is there any limit what Israel should do to the people who are trying to slaughter the Jews?’”
“The answer is no. There is no limit,” Graham emphasized at the time. He described also that he would like to see Israeli military planners “be smart” and “try to limit civilian casualties the best we can. Let’s put humanitarian aid in areas that protect the innocent. I’m all for that.” Since then, many more thousands of Gazan civilians have died, many of them children.
Commenting on the fresh Fox interview in which the senator essentially called for war with Iran, the outlet Citizen Free Press echoed what many are thinking, simply stating “Lindsey Graham is a maniac.”
Tyler Durden
Sat, 12/30/2023 – 13:25
