Ragin' Cajun: Either get on team America for the liberation of a brutalized people or STFU

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Over the past decade, Iran and its network of proxies have conducted strikes against a remarkably consistent set of targets: Israel, which was struck directly by Iranian ballistic missiles in Operation True Promise in April and October of 2024; Saudi Arabia, whose oil infrastructure at Abqaiq was devastated in the 2019 Houthi drone strikes—one of the most significant attacks on the global energy supply in modern history; the United Arab Emirates, struck by Houthi drones in January 2022 in Abu Dhabi; Bahrain, subject to sustained Iranian influence operations and support for armed opposition movements seeking to destabilize the Sunni monarchy; and Qatar, which has maintained its own working relationship with Tehran, but also hosts a major U.S. military base.

Look at those countries again: Israel. Saudi Arabia. UAE. Bahrain. Qatar.

Now look at where America parks its military: Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar—CENTCOM’s forward headquarters, home to roughly 10,000 U.S. troops; Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE—a hub for American air power and surveillance across the Gulf; Naval Support Activity Bahrain—headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet; Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia; and a deep, decades-long military partnership with Israel that includes pre-positioned American equipment and intelligence infrastructure.

Iran has spent over 40 years targeting the architecture of American military presence in the Middle East. The Quincy Institute has spent six years targeting the intellectual infrastructure that justifies it. Different instruments—one fires missiles, the other publishes white papers—but an identical target set.

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