A top Pentagon official who helped craft this year's defence priorities for the US, which included a “peaceful and prosperous Middle East” and a focus on the Western Hemisphere, faced gruelling and sometimes awkward questioning by Republicans and Democrats this week as he sought to defend the war in Iran.
Released in January, the National Defence Strategy focused on protecting the US “homeland”, sounded a conciliatory tone with China, and stressed that allies and partners in the Middle East should take primary responsibility for their own defence.
Less than two months later, President Donald Trump launched a war against Iran, causing chaos across the region and sending Gulf allies scrambling to defend themselves against a barrage of retaliatory Iranian missile fire.
Undersecretary of defence for policy Elbridge Colby, who was the key author of this year's strategy, was grilled on Capitol Hill, first by senators on Tuesday then by House Representatives on Thursday.
His testimony came as the Trump administration struggles to explain to Americans why it started a new conflict despite campaigning on a promise of ensuring global peace and stopping “endless” wars.
One justification that confused many came from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who this week said the US pre-emptively attacked Iran because it feared a retaliatory strike after Tehran was pre-emptively bombed by Israel.
On Tuesday, Mr Colby told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Iran war “is not going to be endless” and said there would be no “nation building”. He also claimed the war was not about regime change in Iran, even though Mr Trump has said he wants to be involved in picking the next leader, following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – whom Mr Colby said was killed in an Israeli strike.
In one awkward exchange before the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Pat Ryan asked Mr Colby about the “massive inconsistencies” between his prior remarks about the Middle East and the situation it is now in.
Quoting from an opinion piece Mr Colby wrote in 2019, Mr Ryan read the Pentagon official's own words back to him.
An Iran “intervention would not only cost American lives, but also consume vast munitions and equipment and distract American readiness from Asia, harming us capacity to deter China”, Mr Ryan said, directly quoting Mr Colby from his piece in the Wall Street Journal.
“You're very clear [that the Iran war] is a mistake, that there's a far greater threat.”
Mr Colby, who also served in the first Trump administration, responded: “Sir, I don't think the current operations are a mistake. I think we are scoping the military objectives in light of the overall strategy under the President's direction.”
In that same piece, Mr Colby wrote that “the Middle East is becoming less important to the US” as domestic energy production surged.
“Middle East terrorism continues to pose a security challenge, but big-footprint military interventions aren’t the answer. Terrorism is better handled by aggressive intelligence activities combined with special and select conventional forces, diplomacy and law enforcement,” he wrote.
He also said that it would be a “self-comforting delusion” for Washington to think it could conduct a major military effort in the Middle East and maintain its advantage in Asia.
Stranded Americans
Mr Colby's defence strategy does lay out that Iran is a threat to the US and its allies but it seeks to bring American focus back to the Western Hemisphere, as evidenced by Mr Trump's threats against Greenland, the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and recent sabre-rattling against Cuba.
On Wednesday, Mr Colby faced questions from the public after a conversation hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in Washington.
One person in the audience criticised him over what some see as America's lagging attempts to evacuate US citizens from the Middle East.
“We have one to two million Americans in the Middle East who are stranded there. … How could we begin a war and not consider how to take care of these number of Americans?” he was asked.
Mr Colby, who refers to himself as a “flexible realist” responded that the US was “absolutely not neglecting Americans in the region”.
He also drew criticism last year after his office in July paused some weapons shipments to Ukraine.
Critics said the move played into Russian President Vladimir Putin's hands and could prolong the war, leaving Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian missile and drone attacks.
Representative Bill Keating, a Democrat, on Thursday pressed Mr Colby on the decision, saying it damaged “our credibility, not just with Ukraine, but with our allies”.
“Who the hell made that decision that endangered so many people's lives?” Mr Keating said.
Mr Colby responded: “I don't actually know.”
