Well That Starts the New Year Off with a Bang.

I’ve been on a Christmas road trip and only briefly paying attention to the news and Social Media while enjoying the grandchildren and catching a cold.  But I’ve apparently missed the big fireworks when Iranian backed groups in Iraq stormed the U.S. Embassy and in response, the U.S. used a drone strike to kill an Iranian General and his Iraqi counterpart at the Baghdad Airport. 

It amazes me on how predictably the commentary unfolded in the news media, and how incapable we are of moving from our polarized positions into one where people agree a military response was appropriate and correct.  Then, of course, we have the politicians weighing in with their opinions on what the President should have done, or what he failed to do to keep them in the loop.  Of course, to an outsider, my view of their concerns vanished quite a while ago as they began a non-stop campaign to undermine the legitimacy of the voter’s choice and the election.  Now every statement is viewed as just another complaint from those powerless to change the dynamic because they hate the facts before them.

The first I knew of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was a news broadcast that announced Iraqi “mourners” were storming the embassy and the staff had been evacuated and asked the administration to send help.  Some on the left, like Joy Reid, called this “Trumps Benghazi” implying the Iraqi Embassy would suffer the same fate as the Libyan Consulate.  Fortunately, for the Americans most affected by this event, the current President’s response was far more effective than that of Obama, Biden, and Clinton when it came to protecting Americans serving in the State Department in a dangerous area.

With elements of the USMC and the USA’s rapid deployment force (elements of the 82^nd Airborne Division) mobilized and deployed to the embassy it appears, at least for the immediate future the “mourners” have decided to mourn somewhere else.

Following the deployment of forces for the protection of the embassy there was a drone strike at the Baghdad Airport that killed what the Washington Post described as “Iran’s most revered military leader.”  From where I sit that was a strange way to describe a man who has been condemned for his brutality towards Americans and even his own countrymen.  It really makes me wonder about the editorial mindset of the Washington Post, and only serves to reinforce for the President’s supporters his claim they are “Fake News” or just an anti-American propaganda machine.

The ending of this little experience in international diplomacy has not yet been written, but then again real life never seems to match the neat and tidy endings of novels.  In the coming days, we will learn more about what Iran will do, and what the U.S. will do to counter them.  What I am pretty certain of is the left will continue to vilify any U.S. action, or lack of action, for their own purpose, and the right will continue to defend any response, or lack of response, to support the President. 

The bottom line from most political pundits should be, which approach plays better for the average American?  Unfortunately, we are well beyond rational thought in our politics these days.

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