How the U.S. Can Best Respond to Iran’s Latest Attacks in Iraq https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/politics-current-affairs/2020/03/how-the-u-s-can-best-respond-to-irans-latest-attacks-in-iraq/

March 16, 2020 | Michael Knights
About the author:

Last Wednesday, a militia backed by Iran launched a salvo of rockets at a coalition military base in Iraq, killing two American and one British military personnel. Later that day, Iranian positions in Syria, close to the Iraqi border, were struck by unidentified aircraft, possibly belonging to the U.S. or Israel. Then, on Friday, American and British planes also attacked weapons depots belonging to Kataib Hizballah, the leading Iranian militia in Iraq. Taking stock of this latest round of fighting, Michael Knights urges Washington to adopt a strategy (not unlike Israel’s) for defending itself from Tehran’s aggression:

[The] strikes on Kataib Hizballah’s missile and rocket bases [likely occurred long after the group] had evacuated its valuable weapons. Iran’s militia proxies in Iraq can trade empty buildings or even two dozen of their own rank and file for three Anglo-American fatalities all day, every day. This is a game we will lose.

The right approach probably [involves] prompt, decisive, and unclaimed attacks . . . against some senior [Iran-backed] militia leaders in order to make others think very seriously about their personal future. But high-value leadership targets—which Iran and its militias do value—are generally not available to hit the day after Americans are killed: they are keeping their heads down.

Congress and the administration need to sit privately and agree to some ground rules for the use of military force that allow the U.S. military to delink the timing of deterrent strikes, so that we can strike the right targets when they become available, to deter militia attacks that are highly likely to come otherwise.

In parallel, the U.S. should toughen its mindset, quietly bringing the [equipment] into Iraq that it needs (i.e., Patriot missiles and anti-rocket close-in defenses) without further consultation with an Iraqi government that would rather adopt a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach. And finally, the U.S. should let the militias keep overreaching, keep showing their hand as would-be dictators under Iran’s control, while the U.S.-led coalition keeps helping Iraq to defeat Islamic State. This is a game we can win.

Read more on Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/13/iraq-airstrikes-shiite-militias-islamic-state-128210