Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin insisted Tuesday that stationing troops off a humanitarian pier leading to Gaza does not count as having boots on land while leaving wide open the possibility of a live-fire exchange with attackers on the ground. The statement appears to undercut the Biden administration’s attempts to assuage concerns about the safety of the 1,000 U.S. troops who just began construction on the artificial port, and its insistence that the U.S. military will not be involved in combat operations in Gaza while supporting Israel’s war against Hamas. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Fl…
