The U.S. must strike back at those who attacked us. But we must do so aware that we have other soldiers sitting deep and poorly defended among hostiles.

Three Americans were killed on a spot of land just at the border of Jordan, Syria, and Iraq last weekend. Republican senators and congressmen, so anxious to portray Biden as weak and to call for a vigorous military response, have blown past the most basic questions about the incident, ones that make both the Trump and Biden administrations look utterly foolish and depravedly negligent.

Why did three Americans die in a desolate corner of northern Jordan, near the Iraqi border and just a stone’s throw from a U.S. military outpost in Syria at Al-Tanf? Why were they there? Who authorized the mission? Why were they so vulnerable? Who attacked them and with what weapons?

The newspapers are pointing the finger at an unspecified “Iranian-backed militia.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III was reluctant to identify the country from which the attack occurred. There’s a reason for this reluctance, as specificity would prove embarrassing.