Posted on 06/18/2021 5:11:36 PM PDT by blam
A major “realignment” of US defense priorities is resulting in a new extended drawdown of troops, aircraft, and anti-aircraft missiles from the Middle East, The Wall Street journal says in a new report, especially a prior missile battery build-up under Trump in Saudi Arabia.
“The Pentagon is pulling approximately eight Patriot antimissile batteries from countries including Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, according to officials,” the report details. “Another antimissile system known as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad system, is being withdrawn from Saudi Arabia, and jet fighter squadrons assigned to the region are being reduced, those officials said.”
Early this month the Saudi crown prince was informed of the reduction of equipment and personnel on Saudi soil in a phone call by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin – where most of the military hardware is being pulled from. The prior Trump administration had begun sending tons of additional hardware there following the September 2019 drone and missile attack on the Saudi Aramco oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in eastern Saudi Arabia.
Simultaneously the ongoing drawdown from Afghanistan is said to be well over half complete, also as more troops are expected to depart Iraq.
US officials told WSJ that the move reflects a Biden administration belief that Iran is no longer the dominating major threat to US security interests in the region:
A senior defense official said the equipment withdrawals amount to a return to a more traditional level of defense for the region. Under former President Donald Trump, the U.S. actively deployed defensive systems as well as troops, jet fighter squadrons and naval warships to support its maximum pressure campaign against Iran.
The hardware hasn’t deterred Iran or its proxies from destabilizing actions, officials said. Saudi Arabia also has improved its defensive capabilities, intercepting most rocket attacks on its own, they said.
For Biden’s Pentagon, China and Russia have become the top priority with Iran taking a far backseat. This is spelled out in the report as follows: “The Biden administration is sharply reducing the number of U.S. antimissile systems in the Middle East in a major realignment of its military footprint there as it focuses the armed services on challenges from China and Russia, administration officials said.”
Hawks have long argued, however, that a broader US retreat from the Middle East would cede influence to Russia and its allies, also as proliferation of Russian anti-air systems increases – with the example of Turkey and its receiving S-400s remaining a hot, contentious issue in US-Turkey relations at the moment.
My first thought.
The US is finished with the Middle East.
Never again.
Ezekiel 38 will come
You can count on it
We the people voted overwhelmingly for a prosperous path and were robbed. No matter what, I’m comforted by the fact that the traitors will always be miserable and never understand the pride of patriotism.
And Damascus will turn into a ruinous heap in the process.
We didn’t predict it, but it will happen!
He is turning us against Israel..
Everything keeps lining up - as we knew it would
Will these items be available in an Army Surplus store soon? A serious prepper would like to know.
Had been for years. It grows closer. But no MAN knows when..
Is this not the Team America world police thing? I don't want any more of that.
With the threat of white domestic terrorism they will now be defending the Capitol and White House.
Biden is Iran’s boy.
having strike capability in the ME is essential to staging against China. If our new ‘main’ concerns are Russia and China, why did he trash our advantage?
If you think this country, in its current state, is fighting China any time soon, you are out of your mind.
Doubt it but you can get some big items here, https://www.govplanet.com/
govliquidation.com used to sell all sorts of fedgov/military items but they’ve been folded into some other website and don’t seem to have the big toys anymore.
If Russia is the primary threat, which I doubt, why is the zombie denying arms sales to Ukraine? Why did we kill our pipeline but stopped restrictions on Nordstrom? Did the Russians pay their bribes but the Ukrainians did not?
I see Putin got what he wanted. Way to go, Joe.
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