Gerry Feld: We need confidence in our security forces now more than ever

No one ever wants to go to war, and no one wants to see people die. However, once you have been attacked resulting in casualties, and the threat of more attacks is imminent, you must defend yourself to the best of your ability. But what if you're attacked by a violent rogue military force that has no defined country to call their home, and all evidence proves they're acting as a proxy force for another nation attempting to keep their name out of the action?

This is the situation the United States found itself in Friday Jan. 26, when Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship missile at the American destroyer U.S.S. Carney. Luckily, the crew of the destroyer was able to shoot down the incoming weapon saving their ship. However, minutes later, the British ship M/V Marlin Luanda was struck by a Houthi missile creating severe damage to the vessel.

Tensions escalated to the point of all-out war Sunday, Jan. 28, when armed drones operated by Iran-backed rebels in Syria attacked U.S. Base “Tower 22” on the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border killing three Americans while seriously wounding 34 more. Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, there have been nearly 200 rocket, missile or drone attacks on American forces in the Middle East. Although many of those attacks resulted in casualties no deaths had occurred.

Although the United States has responded to some of the Houthi attacks using guided missiles and nighttime air attacks on storage and launch sites, it has not deterred Houthi attacks in any form, in all respects it appears to have emboldened their operations.

Although it takes time to lay out well-planned, coordinated attacks, the week the United States squandered allowed Iran and their terrorist partners enough time to move weapons and hide equipment while allowing high-valued rebel targets time to flee to Iran. It was another tremendous blunder by our war department.

Additionally, there's zero proof these initial attacks are going to deter any further aggression on American bases, Israel or allied shipping in the seas around Yemen. But now there's major fear around the world that any attacks on Iran including its infrastructure, military centers or other interests in the Middle East, could expand the war in Israel to a major conflagration no one wants.

Oil prices have already begun to rise as fears an Iranian blockade of the straits of Hormuz could close off all oil supplies leaving the Persian Gulf.

This is the first time in President Biden's Administration where bold military action has been required and there are serious problems within the power base in the White House. With all the attacks and serious military problems in the Middle East, and the growing threat of China's war-mongering toward Taiwan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was AWOL during four critical days.

He entered the hospital because of reoccurring problems from prostrate surgery but never notified the president or anyone else in the White House. Even Assistant Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks knew nothing about his hospital stay. Thinking all was well, she was off vacationing in Puerto Rico. It's her responsibility to be prepared and readily available to step in for Austin if he is unable to perform his responsibilities during a national emergency. Hicks stated she was still on vacation when she was informed Austin had already been off the grid for three days, but she had no idea where he was, and that's terrifying.

It's things like this that make Americans ponder what's going on behind those closed doors of the White House. It's tough to feel we are in good hands when the people we count on for our safety and security are missing, and then realize the president is not speaking to his Secretary of Defense on a daily basis. When we think about Biden's top security people considering issues that could lead us into a major war, we might want to remember the botched and bloody withdrawal from Afghanistan that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service people and nearly 170 innocent Afghani civilians.

— This is the opinion of Gerry Feld, whose column is published the second Sunday of the month. He writes about issues from a conservative perspective and is a published novelist.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Gerry Feld: We need confidence in our security forces now more than ever