Opinion | Sébastien Roblin: Why did the U.S. protect Saudi Arabia with Patriot missiles but not troops in Iraq? - NBCNewsTHINK
It remains a stark failure that no attempt was made to provide the 5,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq with an active ballistic missile defense.
The earthshaking attack highlights how little forethought went into the consequences of killing Soleimani, and how that recklessness might easily have cost the lives of U.S. military personnel. At the very least, the Defense Department ought to have extended to its forces in Iraq the same protection it has provided Saudi Arabia — by covering them with advanced Patriot missile defenses.
Indeed, U.S troops in Iraq should have received the same consideration the moment the Trump administration committed to killing Soleimani and provoking Iran. It already had evidence that Iran was willing to use the weapons to strike foreign targets. And U.S. personnel in Iraq had already been frequent targets of smaller rocket attacks — including one just a week earlier, when
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