Thursday, August 30, 2007

Here's why the US might not attack Iran

Andrew Exum (affectionately Abou Muqawama) in the Daily Star, here
"...It's not just in Washington, ... Israel, Lebanon and among the Gulf states, some officials are similarly pressing for the use of American military force against Iran because such action might serve their own purposes... None of those voices, however, consider how the US military, as an institution, might resist moves that could lead to such action..."
"... For example, Admiral William Fallon, the new commander of US Central Command, has rejected calls for a third carrier group to be sent to the Gulf as a message to the Iranians. War against Iran, he has said, "will not happen on my watch."
"... there exists a tremendous sense of guilt among the US senior officer corps for what is seen as a failure to stand up to the civilian leadership in the rush to go to war against Iraq... leak information to the press should the administration begin taking secret steps toward military action
"...it is not inconceivable that serving military officers would resign rather than sanction another poorly planned military adventure in the Middle East. High-profile resignations, along with leaks to the press, would only feed already strong domestic opposition to a war with Iran..."

2 comments:

bishop said...

they won't attack because of "guilt"? i hope to God yall don't believe that...

("feelings" have nothing to do with any militay action... funny how guilt didn't stop those dudes in Haditha)

Anonymous said...

One must hope that some sanity remains within the top brass. The Iraqi exercise is an outright catastrophy. An Iranian adventure could spell the doom of US presence in the region for decades to come. The air war, as demonstrated in Lebanon last summer, has proven to be futile. Repeating the same exercise in Iran is sheer stupidity