Pompeo on Biden’s Syria Airstrikes: “I Hope They Really Went After Something That Threatened the United States of America”

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” to remark on the news that President Joe Biden’s administration had ordered airstrikes against Iranian-backed fighters in Syria.

“You’ve got to protect your force, you’ve got to establish deterrence,” Pompeo told host Laura Ingraham. “We did this a couple of times, it was effective. I don’t know what they struck or what targets they went after, I hope it just wasn’t bombs in the desert. I hope it really went after something that threatened the United States of America. If not, it’s useless.”

The Trump administration ordered airstrikes in Syria in 2017 and 2018 and later pulled out of Syria altogether, a move that the international community considered a betrayal of the United States’ Kurdish allies. Biden’s airstrikes came after a rocket attack in northern Iraq killed a civilian contractor and injured an American service member and other personnel. 

“You don’t need to get bogged down there to take an air strike,” Pompeo continued. “I’m confident that we could do it … getting in and getting out. We’ve got to make sure that we deter the Iranians every place. Weakness and appeasement of the Iranians will only be rewarded with more terror from them.”

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Pompeo has been critical of Biden’s move to reopen diplomatic channels with Tehran and revisit the 2015 nuclear deal.

“The Ayatollah understands only strength. I led a response to the Iranian threat that protected the American people from its terror and supported the Jewish state of Israel,” Pompeo said in remarks last week to the Washington Free Beacon.  “Adopting the European Union model of accommodation … will guarantee Iran a path to a nuclear arsenal.”

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.