The US Wanted Out of the Middle East. The Middle East Had Other Ideas – By Rebecca Kheel (Military.com) / Dec 21, 2023
Facing a growing list of attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown was pressed at a recent conference on why the American military wasn’t responding more aggressively.
Two decades of war in the region, a war that much of the American public is eager to move on from, have made military leaders cautious when talking about battlefields that have claimed thousands of service members’ lives.
“We’re being very thoughtful about the approach we take, and I do that when I provide my advice on how best to respond but also not to broaden the conflict,” Brown said on stage at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the beginning of the month.
A day later, the list grew, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels launching one of their biggest drone attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, prompting the destroyer USS Carney to shoot down multiple drones.
