Why the U.S. Keeps Bombing the Middle East

U.S. fighter jets dropped bombs on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The strike was in response to Iranian-backed militias firing armed drones against U.S. troops in Iraq, which was a response to a U.S. attack in February, which was a response to a militia attack days earlier. A Pentagon spokesman justified the most recent U.S. airstrikes as "necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation--but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message." This may be true, but similar statements have followed similar strikes for years, even decades; yet counter-attacks nonetheless follow (the "deterrent message" doesn't get through), and so it's possible that we are heightening the "risk of escalation," not limiting it. President Joe Biden finds himself in a jam.