February 07 2020
The Pasdaran are claiming that its attack on an America-used base in Iraq is proof of the Islamic Republic’s immense military power because no US base has been attacked since World War II, three-quarters of a century ago.
However, its claim is about as far from reality as one can get.
In fact, a base in Kenya used by US troops was attacked by Shabab rebels from Somalia just three days before Iran sent missiles flying into the Ain Al-Asad base in Iraq.
But the Shabab rebels managed to do far more damage than Iran, killing three Americans and destroying several aircraft, while the Iranian missiles killed no one and destroyed one helicopter.
As for the previous 75 years, in Vietnam, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese often attacked US bases. In fact, that was their standard offensive action. Hundreds of bases were attacked.
In the first Gulf War in 1991, Iraq fired a missile that hit a barracks inside a base in Saudi Arabia, killing two dozen Pennsylvania National Guard members.
In Afghanistan, Taliban troops have periodically attacked and even penetrated US bases over the last two decades, one as recently as last March.
The January 5 attacks on the Manda Bay base in Kenya, right near the border with Somalia, seems to have bothered the Pentagon much more than the attack by Iran. It immediately sent 100 troops from the 101st Airborne Division to provide security at the base.
In a ground attack that had never been anticipated and never prepared for, the Somali rebels destroyed six surveillance aircraft and evacuation helicopters, then destroyed the base’s fuel storage area, which rendered the base useless for now. But the base in Iraq was never put out of action.
So, the claim that the Islamic Republic accomplished something against the US military that no one had done in 75 years was complete nonsense. But it’s what the regime is telling the Iranian public in an effort to try to make them believe the Iranian military can stand up to the Americans.
