Past Twitter messages and comments from President Joe Biden and press secretary Jen Psaki that criticized former President Donald Trump for airstrikes in Syria are coming back to haunt them after Biden's order for strikes against Iranian-backed militia.
When Biden was running for president in October 2019, he called Trump's decision to pull troops from Northern Syria "erratic and impulsive," reports Fox News.
Thursday night's attacks targeted Shia militia groups at the Iraq border. The groups, IKait’ib Hezbollah and Kait’ib Sayyid al Shuhada, have been suspected of getting money and support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. A senior Biden official said the strikes were launched to deter Iran and its militia from attacks on U.S. forces in the region.
Meanwhile, back in 2017, Jen Psaki questioned whether the Trump administration had "legal authority for strikes" after he ordered airstrikes against Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack the Assad regime carried out against its own people.
"Assad is a brutal dictator," she tweeted. "But Syria is a sovereign country."
Twitter users attacked her for the tweet Thursday night. One user wrote to her "hey girl! guessing you circled back to this one, huh?" while another said they were looking forward to her condemning Biden's "Illegal strikes" during her press conference.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., also retweeted Psaki's post, adding "great question" to the post.
Biden allies praised the president for the strikes, saying they were needed to deter further attacks on American and allied troops and drew a bit of praise from one of his political enemies, Sen. Lindsey Graham, reports Newsweek.
"Appreciate Biden Administration striking Iranian-backed militia groups in Syria who've been pushing attacks against American forces in Iraq and other locations," the South Carolina Republican tweeted. "It is imperative that our enemies know that attacking Americans comes at a cost. Very supportive of this strike and hope it will create necessary deterrence in the future."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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