CNN’s Walsh: U.S. Strikes Less than Soleimani Strike, ‘Telegraphed’ Enough to Let Targets Avoid Them 

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh stated that the U.S. strikes in response to the fatal drone attack on U.S. soldiers “seem to be essentially telegraphed enough to give those on the receiving end enough time to relocate or lessen the damage that potentially could have been done” and the strikes are smaller than the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani under the Trump administration.

Walsh cautioned that there may be further strikes, but “it does seem to be essentially telegraphed enough to give those on the receiving end enough time to relocate or lessen the damage that potentially could have been done. It seems carefully packaged, with the use of B-1 bombers — abnormal –, and the declaration that 85 targets were hit…to make it feel as though this is significantly more substantial. It may indeed prove to have been the case, but so far, we are looking at, geographically, areas that have been hit before over previous years, and we are, as I say, looking at a telegraphing of a response that will likely have reduced its effectiveness. We’ve heard from the Pentagon saying the weather was potentially behind some of the timing here, too.”

He continued, “But Joe Biden, President Biden has an exceptionally difficult thing to thread here, he has to show adequate aggression to Iran that three American soldiers are not killed lightly, that Tehran sees consequences for that act. But remember, Alex, we’ve both been around long enough to remember 2019, when attacks on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and other American facilities led to the assassination of the Revolutionary Guard chief Qasem Soleimani by the Trump administration. That was a strident move that many thought would have consequences. It didn’t to the extent many had feared. And so, today’s response, to some degree, is lesser than that, certainly, but it’s done in a very different world, where, the Israel-Gaza conflict raging, fears for months that might potentially have sparked a wider conflagration across the entire region. But it’s clear, Joe Biden doesn’t want that. He has to show strength here militarily in the region at this time, show Iran clearly that it’s capable of a tough military response. But it probably knows too that Iran also doesn’t want an open, full-on conflict here.”