SecDef: Information Indicated ‘Broad Scale’ Attack Within ‘Matter of Days’
Esper: Information Indicated ‘Broad Scale’ Attack Within ‘Matter of Days’
JAN. 12, 2020 | BY C. TODD LOPEZ , DOD NEWS
Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper reiterated his belief on Sunday morning talk shows that elimination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani would prevent an attack that could lead to more dangerous, open conflict with Iran.
“We had information that there was going to be an attack within a matter of days, that would be broad in scale, in other words more than one country, and that it would be bigger that previous attacks, likely going to take us into open hostilities with Iran,” Esper said, while speaking today with Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” news program. The United States is safer today than we were just a few short weeks ago.”Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper
That attack, Esper said, was being orchestrated by Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq Jan. 3 by a United States-launched airstrike. Soleimani was head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, which is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.
“He was the one who has led the attacks against America for 20 years now,” Esper said. “So we had every expectation to believe that this would happen.”
A “very senior” member of the intelligence community, Esper said, has said the risks associated with doing nothing to prevent the attack was greater than the risk of taking action. “That was compelling for me,” he said.
The secretary said intelligence was briefed to lawmakers who are members of the “Gang of Eight.” That bipartisan group includes members of both the Senate and the House. While Esper himself didn’t sit in on the briefing, he said he spoke to one of the intelligence briefers who was in on the meeting.
“What the briefer said to me, coming out of that meeting, was his assessment that most if not all of the members thought that the intelligence was persuasive,” Esper said. He also said that members of the group felt the intelligence should not be released to the broader members of Congress.
While speaking with Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” news program, Esper said he thinks the threat of direct action against the United States by Iran has diminished, but that Iranian “malign behavior” is likely to continue.
“I think our watchword is ‘vigilance,'” Esper said. “We have to remain vigilant. What we have got to do though is get back to a position where they will come sit down with us. We can talk about how we get Iran to act like and behave like a normal country. That’s what all of us want. That’s what the regional partners want. That’s what the Europeans want, is to get Iran to behave like a normal country.”
Esper characterized that normalcy as meaning no nuclear weapons program, no long-range ballistic missiles, no hostage taking and no support to proxy groups.
“The United States is safer today than we were just a few short weeks ago,” Esper said. “We eliminated the world’s foremost terrorist, Qassem Soleimani, who had the blood of hundreds of American service members on his hands. Secondly, we restored deterrence with Iran and we did so without American casualties. And third, we reassured our friends and allies in the region that the United States will stand up and defend our interests.”
7 January
The United States does not want a war with Iran, and it’s not leaving Iraq, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said.
“As we defend our people and interests, let me reiterate, the U.S. is not seeking a war with Iran,” Esper said during a Pentagon news conference today. “But we are prepared to finish one. We are seeking a diplomatic solution. But first this will require Iran to de-escalate. It will require the regime to come to the table with the goal of preventing further bloodshed. And it will require them to cease their malign activities throughout the region.”
There’s a clear-cut way to avoid further conflict between the two nations, the secretary told reporters.
“There is a big off ramp sitting in front of Tehran right now,” Esper said. “That is to de-escalate, to message us that they want to sit down and talk — without precondition, by the way — to the U.S. about a better way forward, about a way forward which would constitute a new mode of behavior by Iran where they behave more like a normal country.” We are not leaving Iraq. … We are in Iraq, and we are there to support Iraqi forces and the Iraqi government [to] become a strong, independent and prosperous country.”Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper
Tensions have flared since the United States launched an airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
Esper said the protection of American personnel and partners remains a top priority of the DOD, as does maintaining readiness to conduct operations to respond to Iranian aggression.
“Since the strike, I have spoken with the commanders on the ground to ensure they have the resources they need to protect their people and prepare for any contingencies,” Esper said. “As a result, we have increased our force protection postures across the region and will continue to reposition and bolster our forces as necessary to protect our people, our interests and our facilities.”
Within Iraq, Esper said, the risk of retaliation by Iran has not deterred continuing U.S efforts to secure the enduring defeat of ISIS.
“We have received widespread support for our actions from our allies and partners in the region, and we will continue to work with them to protect our gains against ISIS,” he said. “I have been in constant communication with our counterparts, and I’ve called upon them to stand with us in the defense of coalition forces in Iraq. Working through NATO, the defeat-ISIS coalition, and with our partners on the ground, we continue to bolster Iraqi institutions to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS.”
The secretary also told reporters the United States is not leaving Iraq, “Our policy is unchanged,” he said. “We are not leaving Iraq. … We are in Iraq, and we are there to support Iraqi forces and the Iraqi government [to] become a strong, independent and prosperous country.”
6 January
The U.S. message is that the ball is in Iran’s court, and the United States encourages Iran to de-escalate the situation, Esper said, adding that the United States is open to discussing issues and having a more normal relationship with Iran. “But if Iran chooses to go the other path, we are prepared to deal with that and will respond forcefully,” he said.
No decision whatsoever has been made for the United States to leave Iraq, the secretary said, reemphasizing the U.S. commitment to Iraq to defeat ISIS and noting the escalation of attacks by Iranian and proxy groups attacking U.S. forces.In recent months, the secretary said, nearly a dozen such attacks took place, escalating in size, scale and types of weapons, including one attack that killed an American.
Esper said the Iranians fired 31 rockets that weren’t meant to harass, but were designed to kill people and destroy things. “Then we had the siege of the embassy,” he added.
He called the strike that killed the Quds Force leader a matter of self-defense carried out to protect Americans.
“When we looked at this operation, we knew there would be consequences; we knew there’d be risks,” said Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who joined Esper in briefing reporters. “We didn’t take any of it lightly. We knew we’d have to address [the posture of U.S. Central Command troops] for force protection in the immediate aftermath of this particular strike operation.”
“How do you expect us not to respond when they’ve been killing our people for 20 years?” Esper asked. “Soleimani alone has the blood of hundreds of Americans; he’s wounded thousands of American coalition partners. He is a terrorist, a leader of a terrorist organization who’s been killing and attacking Americans for 20-some years, and the blood is on his hands.”
Soleimani was planning attacks on American forces, Esper said. “This whole narrative that’s being turned around is silly,” he added.
2 January: U.S. forces in Iraq were attacked Dec. 27 near Kirkuk by Kataeb Hezbollah, a group with links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force. The attack, which involved 31 rockets fired, killed one American civilian contractor and injured four American service members as well as two partners in the Iraqi security forces, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said.
“The U.S. military responded, and took defensive actions by striking KH bases in western Iraq and western Syria, striking a combination of the command and control [center] or weapons caches with considerable effect,” Esper said during a press gaggle in the Pentagon today. “The attacks were quite successful.”
In the wake of the KH attack, the defense department has deployed an infantry battalion — about 750 soldiers — from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. Additional forces from the IRF prepared to deploy over the next several days, the defense secretary said.
“They are deploying to the region to, on order, reinforce our facilities and to protect our personnel in the region as called upon, and obviously they have the capability to perform other missions as well, as need be,” Esper said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley described the forces from the 82nd Airborne as a “general-purpose unit,” on a defensive mission, adding that such a unit exists precisely for the types of situations it was called upon to respond to.
“It’s going over there, it’s going to be in Kuwait, and they may have follow-on missions in other places,” Milley said. “But their purpose is defensive in nature, to defend U.S. personnel, equipment and facilities.”
The chairman said other U.S. forces have been alerted, though no decision has yet been made to deploy those forces. “But there are a variety of forces that are alerted and prepared if necessary depending on the situation, as we move forward,” Milley said.
Esper said “provocative behavior” by Iranian-backed Shia militias has been ongoing for several months. The Dec. 27 attack was the latest, he said, adding that while he believes the attacks may continue, the U.S. is ready.
“They’ve been shooting rockets, indirect fire, any type of things, attacking our bases for months now,” the defense secretary said.
“In the last two [months] alone we’ve [had] nearly a dozen attacks against U.S. forces, against our coalition partners. So do I think they may do something [else?] Yes. And they will likely regret it. And we are prepared to exercise self-defense, and we are prepared to deter further bad behavior from these groups, all of which are sponsored, and directed and rescued by Iran,” Esper said.