Contrary to the Biden administration's claim, it seems that the recent missile strike in Syria was not carried out in consultation with at least one of the US's main allies in the region: Norway. But why is Norway involved in the Middle East anyway? Greg Wilpert talks about the issue with Eirik Vold, a parliamentary advisor to Norway's Red Party.

Greg Wilpert

Welcome to theAnalysis, I'm Greg Wilpert. A little over two weeks ago, the U.S. launched missile strikes against military bases in Syria. The Biden administration claimed that the targeted militia forces were backed by Iran and were responsible for an attack on U.S. personnel in Iraq a few weeks before that. The Pentagon spokesperson, John Kirby, said at the time that "This military response was conducted together with diplomatic measures, including consultation with the coalition partners," however, there is evidence emerging now that the attack was conducted without consultation. This revelation comes from Norway, which is a staunch ally of the United States in its so-called war on terrorism.

Joining me now to explore the role of Norway in the U.S. military policy is Erik Vold. Erik is a Norwegian political analyst and author and is working as a foreign policy adviser to the parliamentary group of the leftist Red Party of Norway. Thanks, Erik, for joining me today.

Erik Vold

It's a pleasure, Greg. Thanks for inviting me.

Greg Wilpert

So let's start with what your party, the Red Party, discovered with regard to Norway's involvement or noninvolvement in this attack on Syria. What did you find out and how?

Erik Vold

Well, as you mentioned, the U.S. government seemed to claim some sort of tacit approval from its coalition partners, its allies, when it said that this attack was carried out after consultations with these coalition partners. So my party sent a written question to the minister of defense of the Norwegian government asking whether or not the Norwegian government was actually consulted. Now, the answer was surprisingly no, surprisingly clear from the Norwegian minister of foreign defense, we were not consulted.

Not only were we not consulted, the Norwegian government was merely informed when the attack was already being carried out. Now, why should the U.S. government inform the Norwegian government?

Well, Norway is not only a NATO coalition partner of the U.S., we also formed part of the Operation Inherent Resolve, which is the military operation under which the U.S. is present in Iraq and Syria, and we also formed part of the military advisory group, which is a small core of 13, you could say the 13 staunchest allies of the U.S. participants in the operation, Inherent Resolve. Apart from that, what's more, Norwegian soldiers are also present at the Ayn al Asad base in western Iraq, the Anbar province, and this was the base from which the drone attack that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani last year was carried out and to which the retaliatory strike from Iranian backed group hit days afterwards, when several dozens of U.S. forces suffered brain trauma, brain injuries, more or less severe brain injuries, and according to Norwegian sources, it was only a miracle that no Norwegian troops were killed in that attack.

It seems when the 3rd of March attack hit the Ayn al Asad base, again, it indicates that this might have been the same the very same base, with Norwegian troops present, that was used to strike in the south in the February U.S. strike against Syria. So what this means is that when the Norwegian government was not informed, was not consulted in advance,