A retired general blasted President Joe Biden on Tuesday, saying that he “shut down” military plans to take “decisive action” against Iranian-backed rocket attacks.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Carney shot down 14 drones fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen Saturday. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a task force to combat Houthi attacks on merchant shipping Monday.

“It’s well-known here that the United States military really wants to take decisive action here,” retired Army Gen. Jack Keane told Fox News host Martha MacCallum. “They’re being shut down by the Biden White House.”

“Why is that? What is going on in the minds of thoughtful people who spend every single hour of their day pretty much focused on national security and foreign policy? Why would they be doing something that seems so inadequate to most of us looking at it?” Keane continued. “They fear that if they take the kind of the decisive action that is necessary to shoot the Houthis down, their missiles, their rockets, their command and control, the storage of it and decapitate them, and also hit something in Iran to get their attention to stop supporting them, that they believe that escalation could expand the war.”

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Iranian-backed militias have been responsible for dozens of attacks on U.S. bases and personnel since October, including the Dec. 8 shelling of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

“I don’t think it makes – passes the common sense test,” Keane said about the alleged rationale of the Biden administration. “That’s why Iran uses proxies for 43 years, because they don’t want to have direct contact, certainly with the United States, because that would mean the end of their regime. Fear takes over here.”

“You know, you have to have some spine to escalate to end something, to achieve some dominance. We’ve seen presidents in the past do that. You have to step up to it,” Keane continued. “This administration time and time again has failed to do that, and you know, we’re also putting our troops and our sailors at risk here. I mean, it’s shameful saying the implication well, if you kill some of us, then we’re going to take really strong action.”

The Biden administration has come under fire for easing sanctions on Iran, allowing Iraq to purchase electricity from Iran and for arranging for the release of $6 billion in proceeds from Iranian oil exports for humanitarian purposes as part of a deal to secure the release of five imprisoned Americans.

Brandon Poulter on December 19, 2023