Blaine Holt, a retired United States Air Force brigadier general, told Newsmax on Tuesday that the Biden administration's strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iran are "just theater."
Joining "Wake Up America," the former deputy U.S. military envoy to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization urged the military to let troops on the ground defend themselves from Kataib Hezbollah and its allies.
"If we're not going to defend the shipping lanes in the Suez Canal, well then, why are we there? And that's what we have to start asking ourselves is, 'Well, what is our strategy?' " Holt said of U.S. troops in the Middle East.
Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman, confirmed Monday that President Joe Biden approved the strikes against three facilities used by the Iraq-based Hezbollah offshoot group.
"President Biden was immediately briefed on the attack this morning, and he ordered the Department of Defense to prepare response options against those responsible," Watson stated.
"Those options were then presented to the President during a call this afternoon with Secretary of Defense Austin and members of the President's national security team," she added.
It was a response to an attack that injured U.S. troops at Erbil Air Base in Iraq on Monday, the latest in a string of strikes on American soldiers in the region since Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
According to BBC, the U.S. has around 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and 900 in northeast Syria, primarily meant to curb the presence of Islamic State terrorists.
"History won't look well on any of this. Because we have had infinite opportunities to deter all these crises from Afghanistan to right now," Holt explained.
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Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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