Yesterday, Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s assassination in Beirut of Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah final week and its assassination in Tehran of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in July.
United States President Joe Biden instructed the US navy to help Israel in neutralising the missiles – not that Israel shouldn’t be already geared up with varied layers of ultra-sophisticated safety towards incoming projectiles, which enable it to go about slaughtering people left and proper whereas struggling minimal injury in return.
Throughout a news briefing on the White Home, US Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan introduced that US naval destroyers had “joined Israeli air defence models in firing interceptors to shoot down in-bound missiles”. Praising the “professionalism” of the Israeli navy, Sullivan additionally lauded the “expert work of the US navy and meticulous joint planning in anticipation of the assault”.
After all, not as soon as has it occurred to the Biden administration to meticulously thwart Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip, the place officially greater than 41,000 folks have been killed in lower than a yr though the true demise toll is no doubt exorbitantly higher. Nor has the oh-so-skilled US navy deemed it essential to intrude within the wanton butchery presently happening in Lebanon, the place Israel simply killed more than 700 people in lower than every week.
And whereas many a global observer has sounded the alarm that the US may now be “dragged” right into a regional warfare – warnings that may solely improve after the Iranian missile assault – in actuality the US shouldn’t be actually being “dragged” wherever.
Fairly, the US is able completely of its personal making. And the actual fact of the matter is that the US is already at warfare.
To make certain, even previous to the launch of the genocide, the US behavior of flinging billions of {dollars} on the Israeli navy on an annual foundation way back made it transparently complicit in Israeli efforts to vanish Palestine. Since October 7, the billions have solely multiplied, regardless of Biden’s intermittent squawking about slicing off the availability of sure offensive weaponry to Israel.
In August, the Biden administration authorised a $20bn weapons package to its Israeli accomplice in crime. And on September 26, the Reuters information company reported Israel’s announcement that “it had secured an $8.7 billion support bundle from america to help its ongoing navy efforts and to take care of a qualitative navy edge within the area”.
The bundle was mentioned to incorporate “$3.5 billion for important wartime procurement… and $5.2 billion designated for air protection programs together with the Iron Dome anti-missile system, David’s Sling and a complicated laser system”.
In different phrases, Israel will likely be more and more well-poised to “defend” itself towards reliable responses to its personal actions – actions that fairly literally qualify as terrorism.
In the long run, it’s not rocket science: the monetary and navy help constantly prolonged to Israel by the US doesn’t denote a rustic that’s being “dragged” right into a battle. It denotes a rustic that’s, for all intents and functions, an energetic belligerent within the battle.
The US additionally lent a serving to navy hand to Israel again in April when Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles in response to a deadly Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. On this event, too, Iran was extensively solid within the function of terrorist aggressor – and by no means thoughts the retaliatory nature of its motion.
It’s in the meantime useful to recall that the US has for many years completed a superb job of “dragging” itself into regional warfare – the 2003 US pulverisation of Iraq involves thoughts – so it ought to come as no shock to as soon as once more discover the nation entrance and centre towards a backdrop of mass slaughter. From American drone attacks on weddings in Yemen to hurry shipments of bombs to the Israeli navy in 2006 to assist within the ravaging of Lebanon, it appears the US has by no means met a Center Jap battle it was not enthusiastic about.
And though the Biden administration continues to say advert nauseam that it needs a ceasefire in Gaza, the highway to a ceasefire in a case of genocide doesn’t undergo billions upon billions of {dollars} in weaponry to the genocidal celebration.
On the briefing on Tuesday, Sullivan warned that: “There will likely be extreme penalties for this assault and we are going to work with Israel to make that the case.” Translation: The US will keep it up doing its half to escalate regional havoc in tandem with Israel and drive extra, um, “penalties”.
Sullivan additionally burdened that this was a “fog of warfare” scenario, and that he reserved the fitting to “amend and regulate as essential” his preliminary evaluation.
However within the fog of the most recent warfare one factor, a minimum of, is evident: the US is already a major belligerent.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.