Accomplished” banner he triumphantly declared combat operations in Iraq were at an end. But the country was in chaos as he spoke.
Today many American officials fear there will be a wider war if the United States bombs Fordo, including retaliatory attacks on U.S. bases in the region by pro-Iran militias and strikes on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis.Adm. William F. Fallon, who in 2007 and 2008 oversaw all American military operations in the Middle East as head of U.S. Central Command, said on Wednesday that he had concerns about Iran spiraling out of control after an American strike.
“What’s the plan?” he said. “What’s the strategy? What’s the desired end state? Iran not having a nuclear weapon is something few people would disagree with. But what is the relationship we would have with Iran in the bigger Middle East? We’re just knee-jerking.’’One person who sees little similarity between the run up to Iraq and now is David H. Petraeus, the general who commanded American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and led the 101st Airborne Division in the initial invasion in Baghdad. “This is clearly the potential run up to military action, but it’s not the invasion of a country,” he said on Wednesday.
Mr. Trump, he said, should deliver an ultimatum to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, and order him to agree to the complete dismantlement of his nuclear program or face “the complete destruction of your country and your regime and your people.” If the supreme leader rejects the ultimatum, Mr. Petraeus said, “that improves our legitimacy and then reluctantly we blow them to smithereens.”
Mr. Nasr said a hopeful scenario after a strike would be the total destruction of Fordo and an Iran that comes to the table and agrees to a negotiated end to its nuclear program. But if the Iranians respond militarily, as they say they will, Mr. Nasr said that Mr. Trump would be compelled to counterattack, particularly if Americans are killed on U.S. bases in the region.
“And then you don’t know where it’s going to stop, and Trump is really risking a repeat of the Iraq war,” he said. Iran is larger than Iraq, he noted, with a population of roughly 90 million and a far more capable, nationalistic military than the Iraqi army.There are the familiar questions about an endgame. Mr. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, and under a “Mission Accomplished” banner he triumphantly declared combat operations in Iraq were at an end. But the country was in chaos as he spoke.
Today many American officials fear there will be a wider war if the United States bombs Fordo, including retaliatory attacks on U.S. bases in the region by pro-Iran militias and strikes on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis.Adm. William F. Fallon, who in 2007 and 2008 oversaw all American military operations in the Middle East as head of U.S. Central Command, said on Wednesday that he had concerns about Iran spiraling out of control after an American strike.
“What’s the plan?” he said. “What’s the strategy? What’s the desired end state? Iran not having a nuclear weapon is something few people would disagree with. But what is the relationship we would have with Iran in the bigger Middle East? We’re just knee-jerking One person who sees little similarity between the run up to Iraq and now is David H. Petraeus, the general who commanded American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and led the 101st Airborne Division in the initial invasion in Baghdad. “This is clearly the potential run up to military action, but it’s not the invasion of a country,” he said on Wednesday.
Mr. Trump, he said, should deliver an ultimatum to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, and order him to agree to the complete dismantlement of his nuclear program or face “the complete destruction of your country and your regime and your people.” If the supreme leader rejects the ultimatum, Mr. Petraeus said, “that improves our legitimacy and then reluctantly we blow them to smithereens.”
Mr. Nasr said a hopeful scenario after a strike would be the total destruction of Fordo and an Iran that comes to the table and agrees to a negotiated end to its nuclear program. But if the Iranians respond militarily, as they say they will, Mr. Nasr said that Mr. Trump would be compelled to counterattack, particularly if Americans are killed on U.S. bases in the region.
“And then you don’t know where it’s going to stop, and Trump is really risking a repeat of the Iraq war,” he said. Iran is larger than Iraq, he noted, with a population of roughly 90 million and a far more capable, nationalistic military than the Iraqi army.