General Wald needs to come down to earth.
General Wald (U.S. Air Force four-star, retired) in today’s WSJ, There is a Military Option on Iran, defends air and naval strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. He says that otherwise, “we risk Iranian domination of the oil-rich Persian Gulf, threats to U.S.-allied Arab regimes, the emboldening of radicals in the region, the creation of an existential threat to Israel, the destabilization of Iraq, the shutdown of the Israel-Palestinian peace process, and a regional nuclear-arms race.”
His words make me think of Bob McNamara and Donald Rumsfeld, who with similar false assumptions as starting points led us into the “bad” (for all those who died in vain, for our neglected social problems at home) wars of Vietnam and Iraq.
Wald’s beliefs are as baseless as those of McNamara and the others who in the sixties touted the domino theory of communist domination of the countries of IndoChina, and as baseless as those of Rumsfeld and others who in the nineties talked only of the non-existent weapons of mass destruction in the possession of Saddam Hussein. Have we learned nothing from these terrible mistakes of our own recent past?
Assuming that Iran does become a nuclear power, why would that mean that they would dominate the oil-rich Persian Gulf? At best being a nuclear power would make them a bit more secure faced with the other nuclear powers in the region, including Israel. It might even make them act more responsibly. Just as home owners who have something to protect are more responsible than those who don’t.
And a threat to our “allied Arab regimes” in the region? Who are these “allies?” Saudi Arabia? Egypt? the Gulf Kingdoms? Wouldn’t in fact we love to see these feudal states disappear, and be replaced by democratic and progressive regimes, more supportive of their own people? A nuclear Iran might help that to happen. There’s no reason to assume it would hurt.
“Emboldening of radicals in the region.” Does he really mean this? That the radicals of the region could be even more emboldened than they already are by our own blunders? Where has he been living? Probably in a plane or ship. In any case he seems to have lost touch with the land.
Is there any need to go on with this? ‘The creation of an existential threat to Israel, the destabilization of Iraq, the shutdown of the Israel-Palestinian peace process, and a regional nuclear-arms race.” Need I comment any further? It’s all laughable, or it should be, would be if we didn’t suspect that there were those who took this General seriously, those who might have the influence and power to have us follow up Vietnam and Iraq with Iran.
Explore posts in the same categories: Online readings
