It makes me furious listening to Democrat politicians and their operatives in the media wringing their hands and worrying about “escalation” after the righteous killing of IRGC-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Kata’ib Hezbollah founder and leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis last Friday. They are giving aid and comfort to people who have murdered thousands of Americans over the decades, and their rhetoric is indistinguishable from Iranian officials – except for the accents. Some of that malarkey was captured here. Other Redstate colleagues illuminated the shameful kowtowing to Iran here, here, and here.

Here’s a direct example of Chris Hayes repeating Iranian propaganda on air during the Iranian missile attack Tuesday night:

It was incredibly irresponsible to even entertain on air what is widely known propaganda bullshit. You set off a series of false, garbage regurgitations from leftwing rags—with blue checks. All while our troops were still potentially in danger. It's indefensible. https://t.co/NFdTv4I2UU — Richard Baris (@Peoples_Pundit) January 8, 2020

All of the Democrat presidential candidates have caterwauled about “escalation” and seek to return to the “surrender foreign policy” of Barack Obama. Their rhetoric, as well as that of the likes of Sen. Chris Coon (D-DE), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), and other Democrats who appear on Fox News and elsewhere, is simply disgusting. They think we have forgotten the following history of Iranian-backed attacks on Americans over the last 40 years. Here is a list:

On April 18, 1983, a suicide bomber crashed a truck into the front of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, and detonated approximately 2,000 pounds of explosives. The massive blast killed 63 people, including 17 Americans, some of whom were CIA officers. On October 23, 1983, two suicide trucks laden with explosives were driven into the barracks at Beirut’s airport where the Multi-National Force in Lebanon (MNF) peacekeepers were staying. A total of 307 people were killed. 241 Americans, 58 French, 6 civilians and the two bombers. Islamic Jihad (backed by Iran) claimed responsibility. On September 20, 1984, after the United States had relocated embassy operations from West Beirut to Aukar, a Christian suburb of East Beirut, a suicide bomber in a van packed with 3,000 pounds of explosives destroyed the front of the embassy, with Hezbollah claiming responsibility under the cover name of the Islamic Jihad Organization (23 fatalities). On March 16, 1984, Hezbollah agents abducted Beirut CIA station chief today William F. Buckley, tortured and held him in captivity, and then neglected him leading to his eventual death in 1985. On June 14, 1985, TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome was hijacked by Shiite Hezbollah terrorists who looked for people with Jewish-sounding names. The terrorists killed US Navy diver Robert Stethem, and dumped his body on the runway. 1982 – 1992. Spanning a full decade, the Lebanon Hostage Crisis refers to systematic abductions of foreign nationals in Lebanon by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. Of the total 96 foreign nationals abducted, 25 U.S. citizens were kidnapped, making Americans the most targeted national group. A number of hostages died in captivity as a result of inadequate medical care, torture, or execution. On July 31, 1989, Pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim extremists hanged Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in retaliation for the Israeli abduction of a Hezbollah spiritual leader. On March 17, 1992, a Ford F-100 panel van driven by Hezbollah blew up at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aries, killing 23 and injuring 242. June 25, 1996. In 2018, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ordered Iran to pay $104.7 million to victims of a truck bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. military personnel. On August 7, 1998, nearly simultaneous bombs blew up in front of the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Two hundred and twenty-four people died in the blasts, including 12 Americans, and more than 4,500 people were wounded. April 2019. The Pentagon upped the official estimate on the number of U.S. troops in Iraq who were killed by Iranian-backed militias, now putting that number at at least 603. That means roughly one in every six American combat fatalities in Iraq were attributable to Iran.

Did you catch that last sentence? One in six American combat fatalities in Iraq are attributable to Iran! I would love to see someone ask Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi a direct question or two about that fact. And if the above list isn’t a sufficient reminder, there is this excellent summary from Stratfor of Iranian-backed terror around the world over the last decade:

2003, U.S.: A New Jersey man working for Hezbollah surveilled potential civilian and government targets in Boston, New York and Washington. He was arrested in 2019 after a series of interrogations. His arrest was likely a sign that U.S. authorities were revisiting old cases in an effort to prevent any kind of Iranian or Hezbollah attack. Oct. 11, 2011, U.S.: The U.S. Department of Justice announced that two men had been charged in New York with taking part in a plot directed by the Quds Force to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, on U.S. soil. 2012-17, France and Germany: Officials arrested an operative working for the Quds Force and accused him of conducting surveillance on a French Jewish academic in Paris and a pro-Israeli German politician in Berlin. Feb. 13, 2012, Georgia: A Georgian driver for the Israeli Embassy in Tbilisi noticed a suspicious object attached to the undercarriage of his vehicle, which turned out to be a grenade. Security personnel defused the device, and nobody was hurt in the incident. Feb. 13, 2012, India: A sticky bomb detonated on a vehicle belonging to an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi, injuring four people. Feb. 14, 2012, Thailand: Police launched a raid on Iranian nationals preparing explosive devices in Bangkok. June 20, 2012, Kenya: Two Iranians were arrested for suspected terrorist activities in Mombasa, fueling suspicions that they may have been targeting U.S. and Israeli interests there. July 7, 2012, Cyprus: Authorities arrested a man of Lebanese descent and accused him of plotting an attack on an Israeli tourist bus there. July 18, 2012, Bulgaria: A Hezbollah operative detonated a suicide bomb next to a tour bus carrying Israeli citizens in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing six and injuring 32. This is the only post-9/11 Iranian-linked plot that resulted in fatalities. 2015, U.K.: Authorities raided four properties in northwest London where operatives linked to Hezbollah had stockpiled thousands of disposable ice packs filled with ammonium nitrate, a common ingredient in homemade bombs. Dec. 8, 2016, Kenya: Authorities arrested two Iranians and a Kenyan caught conducting surveillance on the Israeli Embassy in Nairobi. 2017-18, U.S.: Two Iranian operatives conducted surveillance on Jewish residents and Iranian dissidents in the United States, traveling back and forth to Iran before being discovered and arrested. Jan. 16, 2018, Germany: Police raided residences and offices belonging to suspected operatives of the Quds Force who were linked to plots to attack Jewish and Israeli targets. June 30, 2018, France: European authorities thwarted an Iranian-backed plot to attack a dissident conference in Paris. Oct. 3, 2018, Denmark: Authorities closed roads and ferry services to stop a suspected Iranian plot to attack members of a dissident group. July 24, 2019, Uganda: Police arrested a Lebanese national at Entebbe International Airport who was carrying out surveillance on U.S. and Israeli targets and recruiting people in the country for an attack. Oct. 23, 2019, Albania: Police said that they had discovered an Iranian paramilitary network planning attacks against exiles in Albania.

The Iranians have a LOT for which to be held to account. For the first time, Iran was stung hard by a US president in a preemptive drone strike that thwarted planned attacks on US personnel and facilities in Iraq. All Americans should rejoice that the world is a safer place without the terrorists Soleimani and al-Muhandis. Even elected Democrats. But then their incurable Trump Derangement Syndrome precludes them from doing that, doesn’t it?

The end.

Stu Cvrk served 30 years in the US Navy in a variety of active and reserve capacities, with considerable operational experience in the Middle East and the Western Pacific. An oceanographer and systems analyst through education and experience, Stu is a graduate of the US Naval Academy where he received a classical liberal education which serves as the key foundation for his political commentary. He threads daily on Twitter on a wide range of political, military, foreign policy, government, economics, and world affairs topics. Read more by Stu Cvrk