PENTAGON PERFIDY? Last Thursday at 6:38 a.m. Washington time, an American contractor was killed and five U.S. troops were wounded when an Iranian-built drone launched by Iranian-backed proxy forces hit a maintenance facility at a base housing U.S. troops in northeast Syria.

At 10 a.m. that day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were testifying before the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. Neither made any mention of the attack, but Austin testified yesterday that as soon as he and Milley got out of the hearing, they began working on response options. A retaliatory strike was carried out hours later and announced by the Pentagon at 10:38 p.m.