Undeterred: Suspected Iranian-backed militias answer US 'proportionate' response with

[Boats]

Undeterred: Suspected Iranian-backed militias answer US 'proportionate' response with another rocket attack on US troops
By: Jamie McIntyre - Washington News - 03-03-21
Re: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...k-on-us-troops

SHOOT AND SCOOT: The group behind the attack has not been confirmed, but this morning’s (7:20 a.m. Baghdad time) rocket assault on an Iraqi base hosting U.S. troops has all the earmarks of the same Iranian-backed militias responsible for previous attacks in recent weeks.

The initial report, tweeted by U.S. military spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto, said 10 “indirect fire” rockets hit the al Asad air base in Anbar, where many of the remaining 2,500 U.S. forces in Iraq are based, and that Iraqi Security Forces are investigating. In a later statement, the Iraqi military said there were no significant losses and that the abandoned launch pad used to fire the volley of rockets had been found.

The attack comes five days after the U.S. bombed a series of buildings at a border crossing in Syria that suspected militant groups used to cross into Iraq, and less than 24 hours after the Pentagon expressed the hope that its “proportionate military response” last week would deter more attacks.

“I don't think we've seen any demonstrable effect yet,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters at an off-camera briefing yesterday. “One of the things we were certainly hoping to achieve as a result of that strike was to deter future attacks by militia groups on our people, our facilities, and our Iraqi partners.”

But a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, a noted arms control expert, is taking issue with one part of the report: the assertion by U.S. Central Commander Gen. Frank McKenzie that he outmaneuvered the Iranians by waiting to evacuate planes and U.S. troops until after Iran had downloaded its last commercially acquired overhead imagery that would have shown “airplanes on the ground and people working.”

That just doesn’t add up, argues Prof. Jeffrey Lewis, who teaches courses on arms control issues at the Middlebury Institute. “The story could not have occurred on the timeline that McKenzie describes. There is a big time gap between when a picture is taken (‘collection time’) and when the image is available to customers (‘delivery time’),” Lewis tweeted. “He could have moved his forces after the satellite collected the image. If McKenzie wasted several hours after collection waiting for the image to be *delivered*, he should be relieved of command for incompetence.”

In his Twitter thread, Lewis disputes McKenzie’s assertion that the pre-strike satellite images would have shown airplanes on the ground and people working. “It's uncommon to see piloted aircraft at Ain Al Asad out in the open and the resolution isn't good enough to see ‘people working.’”

Furthermore, Lewis asserts, “I can't find any evidence that any commercial satellite firm offered for sale a picture from the days before the strike. The most recent pre-strike images from @planetlabs and @airbus were taken December 30, more than a week prior.”

“I don't know whether McKenzie made up his tall tale himself or just embellished one that was going around,” Lewis said.

Daily on Defense has reached out to the U.S. Central Command for a response.

HAPPENING TODAY: It’s time for part two of the investigation by the Senate Homeland Security and the Senate Rules committees, which are conducting a joining post mortem on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Today at 10 a.m., the committee will take testimony from Melissa Smislova, from DHS, Jill Sanborn, from the FBI, and Robert Salesses, from the Pentagon. But the committee chairwoman, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, says she’s most looking forward to hearing from Maj. Gen. William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, to hear his version of why it took as long as it did to get reinforcements to the Capitol on the day of the siege.

“He was in communication with the Capitol Police chief, but most significantly, he was on the call with the Department of Defense, so he can give his version under oath of exactly what happened there and why the delay occurred,” Klobuchar said on CNN last night.

After FBI Director Christopher Wray testified yesterday, Klobuchar said there is no longer any debate about what happened. “He made it very clear that this was a coordinated effort that was led by the Proud Boys extremist group.”

The focus now, Klobuchar says, should be on fixing the structural problems that led to the security and intelligence failures. “The Intelligence screw-ups, the fact that there's a structure with the Capitol Police Board that required the chief — or he felt he had to call the sergeant-at-arms while they were in the middle of an insurrection to get permission. Why the DOD, Defense Department, waited so long that one afternoon when every minute counted to get the National Guard.”

The Senate hearing begins at 10 a.m., the same time Yogananda Pittman, acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, appears before a House subcommittee looking into the agency's budget.

NOT TESTIFYING: The committee won’t be hearing from either of the two top Pentagon officials in charge the day of the Capitol riot: Chris Miller, the then-acting defense secretary, who told Vanity Fair in January he was anxious to explain to Congress what happened and called the criticism of a slow response “complete horses---,” and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who told reporters yesterday the Pentagon reacted with “sprint speed” to the request for help.

Milley was speaking to reporters accompanying him on a trip to Colorado, and according to the Washington Post said critics are not taking into account the logistic of mobilizing additional forces on short notice.

“If the forces ... were ready to go as part of the preparatory stuff, then I’d say, OK, that’s a fair assessment. But this is the D.C. National Guard that went from a cold start, and they had troops there in two and a half, three hours,” Milley said. “They reacted faster than our most elite forces from a cold start.”

DOD REPORT ID’S WHITE SUPREMACISTS, NOT ANTIFA AS BIGGER THREAT: Late yesterday, the Pentagon released a congressionally mandated report on the efforts by the Pentagon to weed out extremists who were trying to enlist in the U.S. military.

The Trump-era report, finished last summer and released, but not published until the fall, was prepared while Mark Esper was defense secretary and released publically after copies leaked to some media outlets.

The Report to Armed Services Committees on Screening Individuals Who Seek to Enlist in the Armed Forces concludes, “DoD is facing a threat from domestic extremists, particularly those who espouse white supremacy or white nationalist ideologies.”

“Despite a low number of cases in absolute terms, individuals with extremist affiliations and military experience are a concern to U.S. national security because of their proven ability to execute high-impact events,” the report says. “White supremacy or white nationalism groups, claim to have both active-duty service members and veterans as members,” which the report says “brings legitimacy to their groups' militant causes” and “enhances their ability to push their agenda and attract recruits.” The report continues, “Access to service members with combat training and technical weapons expertise can also increase both the probability of success and the potency of planned violent attacks.”

There is only one reference to antifa in the 63-page document. In a listing of “known current or past military members” who were white supremacists or white nationalists, a U.S Army soldier who was arrested in 2019 for distributing information on social media related to explosives and weapons of mass destruction, was said to have discussed killing antifa members and targeting cell towers or a news station.

NO EVIDENCE OF ANTIFA AT THE CAPITOL: FBI Director Wray was pressed during yesterday’s Senate hearing about claims that some of the pro-Trump rioters were, in fact, antifa members in disguise.

“We have not to date seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to antifa in connection with the 6th,” Wray said. “That doesn't mean we're not looking, and we'll continue to look. But at the moment, we have not seen that.”

Wray says so far, more than 300 suspects have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. None was affiliated with antifa.

ALSO HAPPENING TODAY: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee meets at 10 a.m. for a hearing on the nominations of Wendy Sherman to be deputy secretary of state; and Brian McKeon to be deputy secretary of state for management and resources. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/nominations

IT’S UNANIMOUS: The Senate Intelligence Committee voted today to send the nomination of William Burns to be CIA director to the full Senate for confirmation. The voice vote in committee had no “nays.”

“The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in Ambassador Burns’s favor is a testament to the nominee’s unquestioned qualifications for the role, long experience in matters of national security, and laudable commitment to public service,” said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the committee chairman. “With our country facing so many challenges all around the globe, the men and women of the CIA deserve a Senate-confirmed director in place as soon as possible, and it is my hope that the Senate will move to confirm Ambassador Burns without any unnecessary delay.”

56 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NDAA: The Heritage Foundation is out this morning with a new analysis of what could or should be in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.

“The best way forward for the country and for the military is to build on the bipartisan consensus on the challenges posed by China and Russia and properly prepare for those,” writes author Frederico Bartels, who provides 56 specific recommendations for Congress to consider.

While most experts expect the defense budget to remain flat next year, at around $740 billion, because of declining revenues and soaring deficits in part because of the trillions spent on coronavirus relief, Bartels makes a case for increasing the defense spending in line with the 3% to 5% growth recommended by a long line of military leaders.

“A 3% real growth rate from the $740.5 billion budget for FY 2021 would be a FY 2022 budget of $778 billion. A 5% real growth rate would equal $793 billion,” the report says. “Given the extraordinary fiscal pressures in 2021, DOD growth should be constrained to the lower end of the recommendations from military leaders. However, Congress should also plan on reducing spending growth over the next few years to prevent defense spending from putting additional pressure on the long-term financial position of the government.”

WEDNESDAY | MARCH 3

9 a.m. — National Press Club Newsmaker virtual discussion with Air Force Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, chief of space operations for the Space Force. https://www.press.org/events/headliners

9 a.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Asia Program webinar: “Partners Amid Uncertainties: The Way Forward in Taiwan-India Relations,” I-wei Jennifer Chang, research fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute; Sana Hashmi, visiting fellow at the Taipei Institute of International Relations; Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at WWC; and Shihoko Goto, senior associate for Northeast Asia in the WWC Asia Program. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event

10 a.m. G50 Dirksen — Senate Homeland Security and the Senate Rules Committee joint hearing: “Examining The January 6th Attack On The U.S. Capitol, Part II,” with Melissa Smislova, senior official performing the duties of the under secretary, office of intelligence and analysis, Department of Homeland Security; Jill Sanborn, assistant director, FBI Counterterrorism Division, Maj. Gen. William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, and Robert Salesses, senior official performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense, homeland defense and global security. https://www.rules.senate.gov/hearings

10 a.m. — House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee hearing on "U.S. Capitol Police FY2022 Budget,” with Yogananda Pittman, acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police. Livestream at https://youtu.be/3975tXJt8B8

10:30 a.m. — Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress virtual book discussion on: The Spymaster of Baghdad, an account of how a covert Iraqi intelligence unit called "the Falcons" came together to defeat ISIS, with author Margaret Coker, investigative journalist and editor-in-chief, The Current. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register

1 p.m. — Government Executive Media Group webinar: "The Defense Agenda," focusing on the Biden administration's priorities, as part of the New Agenda series https://newagendagemg.com/agenda

THURSDAY | MARCH 4

4 a.m. — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will address the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) on the topic: “NATO: keeping Europe safe in an uncertain world.” https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news

9:30 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Colin Kahl to be under secretary of defense for policy. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov

10 a.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webinar: “Unraveling the Conflict in Syria,” with Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center; and Joby Warrick, reporter at the Washington Post and author of Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America's Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World. https://carnegieendowment.org