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Iran Repeatedly Attacks U.S. Troops as Coronavirus Outbreak Distracts Public Attention; U.S. Slaps New Sanctions on Iran

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By Washington Examiner. Iran-controlled forces are launching rockets at U.S. troops in Iraq while Western leaders focus on a coronavirus pandemic that threatens to overwhelm hospital networks around the world.

“It feels like part of the American public may have forgotten that two Americans died in Iraq,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, an expert on the Iranian regime at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Examiner.

American forces targeted five weapons depots controlled by Kataib Hezbollah, a Shia militia that the United States blamed for the attack that killed two Americans and one British service member last week. Yet the militias remain undeterred, as a Tuesday morning barrage marked the third attack on bases housing U.S.n troops in the last week, even as Tehran struggles to manage one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world.

“They view this as a kind of continuing campaign to push Americans out of Iraq,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, who directs the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, told the Washington Examiner. “They’ve lost a lot of citizens to corona, but for those kinds of regimes, it’s really kind of inconsequential to them. They don’t place as high a premium on life as we do.” . . .

Some analysts believe that Iran has renewed attacks on U.S. forces in order to distract from the coronavirus outbreak. “Iranians are fiercely nationalistic,” American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Rubin, who specializes in Iran and the Middle East, told the Washington Examiner. “And so, basically, it’s a no-brainer on the part of the Iranian regime to try to distract people from their own incompetence. And, even though — yeah, I’m a neocon, I’m a hawk, and so forth — I think the worst possible thing would be for Trump to hit Iran.” (Read more from “Iran Repeatedly Attacks U.S. Troops as Coronavirus Outbreak Distracts Public Attention” HERE)

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U.S. Slaps New Sanctions on Iran Amid Renewed Rocket Attacks in Iraq

The State Department on Wednesday announced it is slapping new sanctions on Iran as renewed rocket attacks have been launched at U.S. forces in Iraq by what are believed to be Tehran-backed militias.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the sanctions will target nine entities and three individuals “who have engaged in activity that could enable the Iranian regime’s violent behavior.”

“The actions of these individuals and entities provide revenue to the regime that it may use to fund terror and other destabilizing activities, such as the recent rocket attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces located at Camp Taji in Iraq,” he said.

The sanctions mainly target Iran’s petrochemical industry and are intended to “further Iran’s economic and diplomatic isolation.” (Read more from “U.S. Slaps New Sanctions on Iran Amid Renewed Rocket Attacks in Iraq” HERE)

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Think It’s Bad Now? Wait 4 Weeks; Virus Lives on Cardboard; US Hospitals Totally Unprepared for Demand Seen in Italy; Iran Warns Virus May Kill ‘Millions’ There

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COVID-19 ‘Worry About 4 Weeks From Now,’ Researchers Warn

By Neuroscience News. As the U.S. takes early “social distancing” steps, a Harvard epidemiologist is urging the nation to walk away faster, saying there’s danger in ambling down a path similar to Italy, where three coronavirus cases four weeks ago blossomed into 10,000, leading to more than 600 deaths, an overstressed health care system, and a land shuttered.

Epidemiology Professor Marc Lipsitch, head of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, called the pace of coronavirus testing in the U.S. “utterly inadequate” and “a debacle” that robs public health officials of information crucial to devising an effective response and protecting health care workers. Testing has been so slow that no one knows the extent of the U.S. epidemic, though scientists guess at somewhere between “tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands” of cases.

With COVID-19 cases thought to double every five to seven days, their spread can occur rapidly, and it is critical that steps taken so far — canceling business meetings, working from home when possible, moving college classes online, postponing conferences — become more widespread, before circumstances become critical.

“The situation we should be worrying about is the situation four weeks from now, not the situation now,” Lipsitch said. “That’s hard for people to get their heads around, but it’s really important.”

While questions exist about the virus’ transmissibility outdoors versus indoors, the crowds at gatherings such as St. Patrick’s Day parades, the Boston Marathon, and the Indy 500 auto race call into question whether even those signature events should be held. Officials already have canceled Boston’s St. Patrick’s parade. (Read more from “US Hospitals Totally Unprepared:‘Worry About 4 Weeks From Now,’ Researchers Warn” HERE)
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People May Get Virus From Touching Cardboard

By David Aaro. The study in the New England Journal of Medicine . . . found the virus is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces.

“The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel,” according to the NIH.

The study mimicked the virus being transmitted from an infected person onto everyday surfaces in a household or hospital setting by coughing or touching objects, the agency said. Scientists then investigated how long the virus remained infectious on these surfaces

“The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects, according to the NIH. (Read more about Hospitals Totally Unprepared HERE)
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[H]ealth officials say that the American healthcare system may not be prepared for what comes next if residents don’t heed warnings to limit their interactions.

“The bottom line is things will get much worse,” Dr. James Phillips, an assistant professor at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN Tuesday night. “We need to focus on keeping people on the front lines in the fight so we can continue to provide care to the patients. In the long run, this is about patients and keeping people from getting sick and dying [but we’re] at a significant risk of overwhelming the number of beds we have.”

. . .With the measures, leaders hope to slow the spread of the virus and prevent the country’s healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed. As it is, there aren’t enough hospital beds, medical staff or equipment to handle the spike in cases that could come, healthcare professionals say. . .

“We have a choice to make — do we want to really lean into social distancing and mitigation strategies and flatten the curve or do we just want to keep going on with business as usual and end up being Italy?” [Trump’s Surgeon General Dr. Jerome] Adams said. (Read more about Hospitals Totally Unprepared for What May be Coming HERE)

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Iran: Millions Could Die

By AP News. Iran issued its most dire warning yet Tuesday about the new coronavirus ravaging the country, suggesting “millions” could die in the Islamic Republic if people keep traveling and ignore health guidance.

A state TV journalist who also is a medical doctor gave the warning only hours after hard-line Shiite faithful on Monday night pushed their way into the courtyards of two major shrines that were finally closed due to the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling prohibiting “unnecessary” travel.

Roughly 9 out of 10 of the over 18,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the Middle East come from Iran, where authorities denied for days the risk the outbreak posed. Officials have implemented new checks for people trying to leave major cities ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Friday, but have hesitated to quarantine the areas. (Read more from “Iranian Hospitals Totally Unprepared: Islamic Republic Warns Virus Could Kill ‘Millions’ in Islamic Republic” HERE)

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The U.S. May Have to Target the IRGC in Iran to Stop Iraq Base Attacks

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Escalating Iranian-orchestrated attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq are unlikely to stop until President Trump orders limited retaliation against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets on Iranian soil.

The growing challenge is obvious following two significant rocket attacks this week on the U.S. military’s Camp Taji.

The first attack killed two U.S. service members and one British soldier. A second attack on Saturday morning wounded three Americans and two Iraqis. Both attacks were carried out by Iran’s Kata’ib Hezbollah militia proxy, under direction from Iran’s IRGC. But what makes these attacks particularly concerning is that they are designed to kill. That might seem obvious, but the use hereof numerous rockets targeting areas of Camp Taji where soldiers congregate stands these incidents apart from other rocket attacks, which are primarily designed to harass. . .

Well, retaliating against Kata’ib Hezbollah, as following the first attack this week, is inadequate. Iran clearly didn’t view that retaliation as serious, or it wouldn’t have allowed this second attack to occur. Kata’ib Hezbollah is the sideshow here, Iran is the key problem. But the U.S. has alternate options.

At the top-line level, the loss of two Americans this week shows an imminent and continuing threat. So Trump does not need congressional authority to take limited action against the IRGC inside Iran. And that’s important because the U.S. could likely restore deterrent balance by targeting one or several IRGC military sites. The catastrophic impact that the coronavirus is wreaking on Iranian civil society means that the regime is under immense pressure. This pressure is exacerbated by U.S. efforts to support the growing protest movement. And while these attacks and Iranian escalations on the nuclear front are designed toward coercing the U.S. into sanctions relief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cannot risk an escalatory showdown with the U.S. The supreme leader won’t admit it, but he knows it’s a showdown he can’t win. (Read more from “The U.S. May Have to Target the IRGC in Iran to Stop Iraq Base Attacks” HERE)

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Iran’s Mass Graves for Coronavirus Victims Are Large Enough to Be Seen From Space

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Satellite images of Iran show mass graves for coronavirus victims in the city with the first and most significant outbreak in the country, the Washington Post reported.

Qom, located 80 miles south of Iran’s capital Tehran, is where Iranian officials traced the origins of the country’s coronavirus outbreak that has infected over 9,000 people and killed more than 350, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. . .

Qom is a pilgrimage site for Shia Muslims, attracting millions of pilgrims every year. It is also where morgue directors are having trouble handling burials for those who died of the virus, with bodies piling up because testing them for the virus takes time and the cases are rapidly rising in the country, creating a backlog, according to CNN. . .

The size of the trenches and the speed with which they were excavated together mark a clear departure from past burial practices involving individual and family plots, a senior imagery analyst at Maxar Technologies in Colorado told the Washington Post. The analyst also pointed to an image showing what appears to be a large white pile of lime, which can be used to manage decay and odor in mass graves. (Read more from “Iran’s Mass Graves for Coronavirus Victims Are Large Enough to Be Seen From Space” HERE)

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First U.S. Coronavirus Death; Iranian Coronavirus Deaths Way Higher Than Government Admits; 3 New Cases of Unknown Origin In U.S.; Pandemic Preppers Arm Up, ‘Person With The Most Ammo Wins’

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By KIRO 7. The Washington Department of Health confirmed Saturday the first coronavirus-related death in the United States, a King County man in his 50s.

The man who later died arrived at EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland with “serious respiratory issues” and later tested positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus), King County Public Health said. Officials said the man also had underlying health conditions, although they declined to say what the conditions were, citing patient privacy.

“It is a sad day in our state as we learn that a Washingtonian has died from COVID-19,” Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to their family and friends. We will continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus.”

The man had no history of travel or contact with a known coronavirus case, meaning the case was acquired through “community transmission” in the Seattle area, said Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County. (Read more about first coronavirus deaths HERE)

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Iranian Coronavirus Deaths Far Higher than Official Number

By Breitbart. BBC Persian cites Iranian health sources who claim that at least 210 people may have died from the coronavirus in Iran. If true, that is significantly higher than the official death toll of 34.

Health sources in Iran told reporters with BBC Persian that at least 210 patients in that country died from the Covid-19 coronavirus. The Iranian government denies the number and claims that only 34 have died. Either way, it is the largest number of coronavirus deaths in any country outside of China.

Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur rejected that report and stood by the official death reports placing the number of decedents at 34, Reuters reported on Friday.

However, Iranian Member of Parliament Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imenabadi contradicted the government’s statement and claimed the real death toll in Iran is “much higher” than the official death toll, Alarabiya reports.

“I say this explicitly, the statistics presented so far are not true,” he said. The MP added that he has statistics from cemeteries about the death toll that reveal “horrific numbers.” (Read more from “Coronavirus Deaths May Be Much Higher Than Iranian Government Admitted” HERE)

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New Coronavirus Cases in California and Oregon Are Second and Third of Unknown Origin

By CNN. An older adult woman from California is the second case of unknown origin of the novel coronavirus, health officials in Santa Clara County said Friday.

The patient didn’t have any relevant travel history or exposure to another known patient, said Dr. Sara Cody, director of the county’s public health department. . .

Another case in Oregon reported Friday is thought to be from community transmission but health officials there said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention needs to confirm the state’s positive test result.

The person is from Washington County and is being treated at a Kaiser Permanente hospital. (Read more from “New Coronavirus Cases in California and Oregon Are Second and Third of Unknown Origin” HERE)

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Pandemic Preppers Arm Up, ‘Person With The Most Ammo Wins’

By Washington Examiner. Some Washington big shots like others around the country are readying for the potential further outbreak of the coronavirus by stocking up on “prepper” goods, including pistols, rifles, and ammunition, and reaching out to camps where they can hide out.

“We’ve had a huge surge in interest from the virus,” said Drew Miller, who runs the Fortitude Ranch camp in West Virginia. Miller said his “survival community” in Colorado has filled up, and he is close to selling out memberships in West Virginia as concerns about the virus increase.

Stores that sell freeze-dried food and bullets have also seen a surge in sales.

Justin Anderson, the marketing director for Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the nation’s largest, said ammunition is the top seller. “I’ve seen a notable spike in the purchase of bulk ammo, which is usually a barometer of people’s fear in these types of situations,” he said, adding, “The person with the most ammo wins.” . . .

“We have always been prepared for a pandemic,” he told us, explaining that his camps keep families apart so an infection won’t spread but are behind a wall for defense. “Lots of spread out buildings and shallow shelters (we have NO deep underground shelters) lets our members grab weapons and get to their assigned defensive position on the outer wall in a minute,” he said. (Read more from “Pandemic Preppers Arm Up, ‘Person With The Most Ammo Wins'” HERE)

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Iran’s Ayatollah Claims ‘Wealthy Zionists’ Control America

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Tuesday claimed “wealthy Zionists” control America.

America has reached the “peak of arrogance,” and it is controlled by “corporate owners,” which makes it a “manifestation of oppression, abhorred by the world,” he said in a tweet.

Attacking Zionists is the Iranian regime’s usual rhetoric. But claiming that “Zionists” control America is intended to push antisemitic conspiracy theories while hiding behind its official anti-Israel line.

The official slogan of some of Iran’s allies, such as the Houthis in Yemen, is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews.” . . .

The Iranian leader has slammed Jews before. He claims the US “Deal of the Century” is “satanic” and that it includes the “Jewishization” of Jerusalem. (Read more from “Iran’s Ayatollah Claims ‘Wealthy Zionists’ Control America” HERE)

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DHS Started Preparing Against Iran Threats Months Ago, Acting Secretary Says; The New Iranian General to Watch

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By Daily Caller. Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said the U.S. government was well prepared for any threats from Iran because it had prepared months in advance.

Wolf visited Yuma, Arizona, earlier in January to commemorate 100 miles of border wall built since the beginning of the Trump administration. The acting DHS chief spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation about construction progress, the roadblocks to securing the border, and about the recent security threats from Iran — which is largely under the purview of DHS.

While the events earlier in January between the U.S. military and Iran appeared to catch the public by surprise, Wolf revealed that his government was able to hit the ground running to ensure the public was safe because it had been preparing since the summer.

“The nation-state of Iran and the threats that surround that are nothing new to the department, nothing new to the U.S. government generally,” Wolf told the DCNF. “We started working collaboratively within our department to come up with contingency plans for the variety of different threats. We had that on the shelf this summer, so when the events on the second took place, we took that off and started implementing those right away.” (Read more from “DHS Started Preparing Against Iran Threats Months Ago, Acting Secretary Says” HERE)

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The New Iranian General to Watch

By Politico. The U.S. killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani earlier this month deprived Iran of one of its most singular leaders, and created new questions about Iran’s strategy of building and maintaining its power in the region. Without its charismatic and high-profile commander, would Iran be forced to retrench and pause? Or would it find new ways to lash out? . . .

This week, Iran announced a new and potentially more telling promotion: The new Quds Force deputy commander will be Gen. Muhammad Hussein-Zada Hejazi, who most recently commanded the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps, overseeing Iran’s ties to Hezbollah and the Quds Force activities throughout the Levant more broadly.

The message behind Hejazi’s promotion is clear: Soleimani may be dead, but the Quds Force he led lives on, and is taking active measures to ensure it is able to continue pursuing the regional strategy he championed.

Forced to rebuild the proxy management and command and control mechanisms that Soleimani once ran himself by force of personality and longtime connections, Iran is developing a new strategy to oversee what Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described as “fighters without borders.” And the strategy comes down to this: Since no one commander can replace Soleimani, Iran’s proxy network will now be run by committee, with the Quds Force cobbling together a crew of its more senior and experienced managers to collectively fill the roles Soleimani had taken on himself. Key leaders of Iranian proxy groups, especially Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, are sure to play major roles. But policymakers should pay especially close attention to personnel shifts and promotions within the Quds Force itself. (Read more from “The New Iranian General to Watch” HERE)

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11 U.S. Troops Injured in Iran Missile Attack

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While it was initially reported that the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops caused no casualties or injuries, 11 U.S. service members have been treated for injury.

The troops were airlifted to Germany and Kuwait and underwent treatment for traumatic brain injuries and screening, said Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for U.S. military command in Baghdad.

“As previously stated, while no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed,” Caggins told Defense One.

“Out of an abundance of caution, some service members were transported from Al Asad Air Base, Iraq to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, others were sent to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, for follow-on screening,” he added. “When deemed fit for duty, the service members are expected to return to Iraq following screening. The health and welfare of our personnel is a top priority and we will not discuss any individual’s medical status.” (Read more from “11 U.S. Troops Injured in Iran Missile Attack” HERE)

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Trump Administration Issues MORE Sanctions Against Iran

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The Trump administration continued to tighten the screws on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism on Friday as Special Envoy to Iran Brian Hook announced new sanctions against a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

“The United States is listing IRGC Brigadier General Hassan Shahvarpour under section 7031c visa sanctions. General Shahvarpour committed gross violations of human rights against protestors in Mahshahr. He oversaw the massacre of 148 helpless Iranians in the Mahshahr region last November,” Hook said. “General Shahvarpour was in command of units responsible for the violent crackdown and lethal repression around Mahshahr. This is the first designation on an Iranian regime official being taken under the State Department authority from section 7031c authorities.”

Hook noted that the tip-line that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo established last November has received 88,000 tips from the people of Iran.

“Since the violent crackdown on protests last November, the United States has sanctioned two judges and eight other regime officials for their roles in brutalizing the Iranian people. We are continuing to review all information we receive from the Iranian people and will continue to hold more regime officials responsible for human rights violations,” Hook continued. “Over the past week, many Iranians took to the streets again to protest a corrupt government that lies to them. President Trump recognized their courage with his tweets in Farsi this past week standing with the Iranian people. We call on all nations to join our lead, particularly by sanctioning Iranian officials for human rights violations.” (Read more from “Trump Administration Issues MORE Sanctions Against Iran” HERE)

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The Same Democrats Opposing Trump on Nonexistent War With Iran Opposed His Effort to End Actual Unaccountable Wars

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Amid all the insane things we’ve done in the Middle East for decades, the killing of Soleimani was a very prudent and justified operation. Naturally, that is the event that triggered outrage from Congress and awakened legislators from their slumber on foreign policy.

After years of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars lost in aimless, unaccountable nation-building activities overseas, Democrats and some Republicans are finally asserting congressional control … only over the one “war” the Trump administration deftly avoided. But the social work operations getting our soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue without any congressional oversight. It’s self-evident that the upcoming votes in the House and Senate restricting President Trump’s powers to counter Iran are all about appeasing the one country in the Middle East that actually affects us in the one theater where Trump actually beat the regime with zero American lives lost. It has nothing to do with asserting congressional control over unaccountable wars.

In two weeks, the House will vote on a bill (H.R. 5543) sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to block funding for any potential operations against Iran. Support is building in the Senate for a similar plan using the 1973 War Powers Act to bar any use of the military to counter Iran. The lead sponsor, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., claims he has 51 supporters for a binding resolution (SJ Res 68) because GOP Sens. Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Susan Collins, and Todd Young have agreed to it.

Over the years, in this space, I have railed against these unaccountable and missionless operations refereeing tribal warfare in the Middle East. As the body count mounted every week during Obama’s presidency and then in recent years, I have asked hard questions about why our soldiers are dying. Just two days before the strike on Soleimani, I referred to the Iraq war as a “colossal mistake.” Aside from Sens. Lee and Paul, few of these loudmouths in Congress feigning outrage over the Soleimani strike expressed concern over these wars during that era, and in fact, Democrats consistently voted for defense bills continuing these operations without question.

The president himself has consistently been skeptical of these wars for years and has expressed a desire to leave them in the rearview mirror. But he has gotten no backing from Congress. Quite the contrary. When he decided to leave Syria, which in itself (unlike Iraq) was an unauthorized war, Democrats in Congress held hearings and attacked the president mercilessly. In fact, every single Democrat in the House voted for a resolution condemning the pullout on October 16. Some even said it would boost Iran, which was a bizarre contention given that we were fighting Iran’s and Assad’s Sunni enemies there.

Thus, every time Trump tries to actually change directions and bring troops home, Democrats are practically on the verge of bringing articles of impeachment against him for it. They would likely react the same way over Afghanistan, were the president to follow through with his promise to pull out. Over the weekend, two more of our finest soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar, where we’ve been moving soldiers around like sitting ducks for 17 years. There is no desire from Congress to act to rein in that operation, despite the expose from the Washington Post demonstrating the lies behind its premise and progress.

Yet, suddenly, when the president takes out the number-one global terrorist of Iran who is not only evil, but killed more Americans and attacked more of our interests than any other player in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, members of both parties are demanding congressional oversight to prevent any war with Iran. For the first time, we actually have a president responding to a direct threat with peace through strength while assiduously avoiding ground conflict and nation-building, yet they are assailing him for using unilateral authority. Iran captured an American naval crew in 2016 and has been escalating attacks with greater intensity in recent months without any end in sight because the regime feared no consequences. Trump’s killing of Soleimani turned out to be the ultimate act of de-escalation.

Democrats continue to find no faults with endless undeclared ground wars in numerous countries throughout the Middle East and Africa where the threat to our interests is a fraction of what Iran has done, killing hundreds of our soldiers in Iraq and attacking our embassy. There is no effort to conduct an operational audit of what we are doing in any of those theaters, but just an insidious motivation to hamstring the president in his successful deterrence against the one adversary that matters and in the one theater where he is actually refusing to get us sucked into a protracted, expensive, and untenable war.

There is no meaningful effort in Congress to ask questions about the billions of dollars we throw at nonexistent, unreliable, and often enemy militaries all over the Middle East and Africa, such as the “Lebanese Armed Forces.” Whenever Trump tries to cut funding to these missions, Democrats cry bloody murder and then pass budgets increasing foreign aid. Just this week, the WSJ reported that we’ve given a total of $11 billion to one side of a civil war in South Sudan that we are now sanctioning as an enemy.

It gets worse than that. Last week, 11 congressmen, including 9 Democrats, sent a letter to the Trump administration demanding that he not follow through with a plan, recently publicized by the New York Times, to pull out of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Four of the signatories of that letter – Reps. Anthony Brown, D-Md., Gilbert Cisneros, D-Calif., Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, and Jason Crow, D-Conn. – are also co-sponsors of the House bill to block any action against Iran.

Last week, I reported that our troops in Niger were teaching kids how to use dental floss. A simple strike with no collateral damage against the man single-handedly responsible for more of our soldiers dying than in any conflict since Vietnam is off-limits to them, but pulling out of an unauthorized conflict in a far corner of Africa is also bad?

In reality, there is no mystery to the unprincipled behavior of many in Congress. It’s all about virtue-signaling because Iran has become a political issue. Love for the Iranian regime is now on par with abortion, transgenderism, and illegal immigration in terms of Democrat ideology. Those Republicans joining in with them are claiming to be protective of Article I powers, but they are purposely using the issue for Democrat and media agreement with them, but are not aggressively pushing to end the more unjustified conflicts.

Why were none of these “principled” Republicans, much less the Democrats, expressing public concern over the operation to find and kill ISIS head al-Baghdadi? I’m not suggesting I opposed it, but if you think the Soleimani strike was unjustified, then the one against Baghdadi was much less defensible.

One of the common refrains from the “principled” crowd is that just because someone is evil doesn’t mean the president has the authority or justification to take him out. Well, that applied to Baghdadi much more than Soleimani. ISIS was evil, but it didn’t affect our security or interests as much as it affected the Assad regime and the Shiites in Syria and Iraq. Unlike in Iraq, there was no authorization of force in Syria. Unlike with the operation to take out Soleimani, Baghdadi himself was not an imminent threat and was holed up in a corner of Syria. Soleimani, on the other hand, was conducting operations against our bases and attacked our embassy, aside from his history of killing over 600 troops in a war authorized by Congress. Moreover, the attack on Baghdadi was a much riskier ground operation than the drone strike that killed Soleimani.

Yet not a word of complaint from anyone. Why? Because ISIS is viewed as the “good” war. The media has framed ISIS in such a way that opposition to killing Baghdadi would be tantamount to opposing the killing of Hitler. Iran, on the other hand, is viewed as political, even though Soleimani was a much greater strategic threat. But few people ever heard of Soleimani, while everyone saw the ISIS videos on the web of Baghdadi’s minions torturing people. However, a true principled statesman doesn’t conflate gruesome videos with a strategic threat when assessing legal authorization and prudential justification.

Trump of all people was against the Iraq war more than any Republican or Democrat president; nonetheless, he inherited our presence there and was responsible for defending our assets against imminent attack. Thus, from a purely strategic and legal standpoint, if you are a Republican expressing “principled” concern over the Soleimani strike, you should have verbalized that same skepticism against the Baghdadi operation. The fact that no such concern was expressed demonstrates that some Republicans only like to take principled stances when it’s popular with the media. That is not principled.

Use of soft power and one airstrike against Iran in a theater authorized by Congress is the wrong time and the wrong place to suddenly debate presidential war powers. Trump, a man who has consistently expressed a desire to exit these wars, is the wrong president to tag with the allegation of starting unauthorized wars. Those who really care about the principle of congressional oversight, prudent and defined missions, and putting our soldiers first would work shoulder to shoulder with the president to responsibly exit these theaters in a bipartisan fashion. What they are doing instead is merely an exercise in virtue-signaling on behalf of Iran. Anyone who denies that should be asked why they never spoke up about the Baghdadi operation. (For more from the author of “The Same Democrats Opposing Trump on Nonexistent War With Iran Opposed His Effort to End Actual Unaccountable Wars” please click HERE)

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