By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The Pentagon has been quite vocal about its interest in ensuring the current Israel-Hamas conflict does not widen across the region or beyond, and numerous DoD officials point to a wide sphere of US deterrence-minded initiatives which they say “are working.”
Dual carriers in the Mediterranean, US Navy Destroyers in the Red Sea and stepped up fortifications throughout the Middle East do indeed suggest that the Pentagon is quite serious about seeking to “contain” the current war. This interest in preventing a wider war may at least in part account for why there was not a more pronounced or specific strike against Houthis in Yemen in response to shooting down of a US Air Force Reaper drone.
There is also another concurrent and potential opposite trajectory regarding escalation of the conflict. While the US, Pentagon and Biden Administration do not want to see a wider war with Americans drawn into dangerous combat, Austin was also quite clear that the US was ready to defend itself as needed. Additional responses may become necessary, according to Pentagon thinking, given that since Oct. 17 there have been as many as 55 attacks on US forces throughout Iraq and there have been collaborative efforts to track and sustain the critically important lives of US and allied forces in the Middle East
US Showing Restraint?
When asked why the US has not responded more forcefully, Austin explained that US Navy destroyers were able to engage and destroy Houthi-fired rockets headed for Israel, but did not rule out the possibility of a larger, stronger or more lethal strike.
On this point, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was careful to avoid specifics and indicate any US intention, but he was also clear that the US will, when needed, “strike at a time and place of our choosing.”
“We won’t ever project or predict or advertise when we’re going to conduct a strike, but we will — rest assured that we will strike at a time and place of our choosing. And these attacks against our people must stop, you know? And — if they don’t stop, again, we’re going to do what’s necessary to protect our people. And I’ll leave it at that,” Austin told reporters, according to a Pentagon transcript.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
