U.S. Generals Threatening to Resign and … Israel Preparing to Attack Iran?
The Times of London reports that several U.S. generals and admirals are threatening to resign if George Bush gives the order to attack Iran.
“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,� a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.�
A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. “All the generals are perfectly clear that they don’t have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.
“There are enough people who feel this would be an error of judgment too far for there to be resignations.�
A generals’ revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented. “American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired,� said a Pentagon source. Robert Gates, the defence secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.
This is quite obviously quite worrisome. If true (which is quite likely) it shows that the Pentagon is, firstly, concerned about the state of the army and, secondly, that the military leaders don’t have lost confidence in the White House / that the relationship between the White House and the Pentagon is extremely bad.
No matter how worrisome the situation, though, Bush et alia are right not to rule out military action. Those who are calling on Bush to rule it out are seemingly willing to let Iran develop nuclear weapons. Bush is right to say that Iran cannot be allowed to develop an atom bomb. Diplomacy should be tried first, yes, but when all else fails, a coalition of the willing should carry out airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and infrastructure.
I have said before that now is not the right time to attack Iran. There is still time left to achieve the goal – Iran without a nuclear program. Some reports indicate that Iran’s economy is hurting due to sanctions. More severe sanctions should be pursued and implemented. Its economy has to hurt bigtime. Bleed the Mullahs to death.
However, like it or not (and some of the bloggers I link to below don’t) airstrikes / threatening to use force seems to work. As I wrote a while ago:
‘If the U.S. and European countries are not willing to use force against Iran, Iran will not change its policies, of that we can be quite sure. And if one threatens to use force, one should be prepared to use it (if absolutely necessary).’
The generals and admirals have good points, but… from a policy perspective I do not quite see how Iran can be allowed to have nuclear weapons. It’s far too dangerous. Also: do they oppose attacking Iran no matter what (while Bush is President), or do they simply oppose attacking Iran now (or say within one year), or without preparing for it adequately?
Others on this:
Kevin Hayden at The American Street
Allahpundit at Hot Air
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo
In related news, read this post by Jules Crittenden: The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that Israel is “negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
Jules comments: “I highly doubt the Israelis are going to do this. But you never know.”
I’m with Jules.
UPDATE
Also read this post by Jules; it’s a great round-up of blogposts and newspaper articles about Iran.
UPDATE II
And read this post by Ed Morrissey:
We cannot attack Iran without gathering many more resources than we did for Iraq. Iran is three times the size of Iraq, and its terrain presents a much higher degree of difficulty than the relatively flat Iraq. Their military, while underresourced, is not in the same dreadful state of readiness that we saw in Iraq. Military strikes on Iran could not wipe out their defenses at the onset of action, and the war would result in a conflagration that would halt oil supplies to the entire world. That’s a last-gasp option, and everyone knows it…
If the US decides to attack Iran, we need to be sure we have people in charge who believe in the mission. Right now, I don’t think it’s a good idea, and I’m not surprised to find out that some senior staff officers at the Pentagon agree with that.
Again, to make this perfectly clear: I believe that Iran shouldn’t be attacked now / any time soon but… Iran can also not be allowed to develop an atom bomb. Military strikes are the last resort and there is still time to persue the goal – to prevent Iran from developing WMD’s – through peaceful means.
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23 Responses to “U.S. Generals Threatening to Resign and … Israel Preparing to Attack Iran?”
Michael,
Your warlust is showing:
When not if?
Of course, it might be an “if” were Bush to actually try diplomacy.
Or if the White House would acknowledge that the IAEA still says it has no concrete evidence of an Iranian weapons program and that it has had to admonish the US on more than one occasion for pushing intelligence that proves, when investigated, to be false or releasing reports which the IAEA says are “outrageous”, “dishonest” and “serious distortions of IAEA findings on Iran’s activity”.
Yep, maybe then we would get serious diplomacy instead of bully-boy posturing and diplomacy-by-psyop like the outrageous Telegraph story plant Jules mentions.
Regards, C
Yes my ‘warlust’ showed very much, didn’t it? First diplomacy, don’t attack now. Try other sanctions.
Oeff. Wow. What a lust for war!
My point, Cernig, is that it should not be ruled out but that diplomacy, sanctions, etc. should be tried first. If that’s warmongering, I’m afraid that you don’t understand what warmongering is.
If you would have read some of my previous posts (you seemingly either didn’t or you conveniently ignore everything that contradicts your ‘warlust’ part) you would have known that I oppose attacking Iran now.
My warlust is so big, Cernig, that I oppose attacking Iran!
O, wait…
MvdG have you read this? It’s
Thank you Mikkel for the great insight into the Iran scene…
‘Commanders’ Will Quit If We Attack Iran?…
The Times of London set the blogosphere abuzz this morning, reporting that six senior commanders at the Pentagon will quit if the US attacks Iran. The Pentagon, claims their source, has no stomach for a war with the Islamic Republic:……
[...] The Times of London set the blogosphere abuzz this morning, reporting that six senior commanders at the Pentagon will quit if the US attacks Iran. The Pentagon, claims their source, has no stomach for a war with the Islamic Republic: SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources. [...]
C’moan, Michael,
I poked some fun at a grammatical error, suggesting it was a Freudian slip, and you went ballistic. My apologies if I didn’t make the tongue-in-cheek nature of the poke clear, but it didn’t exactly prove you were even-tempered.
But the rest (bulk) of my comment wasn’t directed at you persoanlly and you didn’t address any of it.
Drink some coffee and put a smile on.
Regards, C
Trust is very hard to earn and very easy to lose.
I hope either we or Israel have plans to attack Iran. However both of these stories seem dubious.
The ’800 pound gorilla(aluminum tubes/mobile weapons labs)’ is that much of the US intelligence is based on a laptop computer smuggled out of Iran. Based om proir experience, the US and W have 0.0% credibility. From the GUK linked above and ArmsControlWonks.
If Israel uses Iraqis airspace to attack Iran – the question throughout the ME and the world is, Is the Iraqis government anything more than a puppet government. If the US and Israel go through with this folly, the Iraqis government will collapse. I buy into the generals story, Rummy ignored war games and analysis proir to the Iraq invasion, the generals won’t allow the same mistake this time with Iran.
Michael,
We took attacking Iran off the table when we invaded Iraq. Airstrikes sound good, but surely you know they won’t be effective.
Israel getting flyover rights from Iraq(ahem.. the US)??? Wouldn’t it be quicker to just announce that Mohammed never existed and that Mecca will be home to a new Disney theme park?
…then by Laura’s consistent yet painfully flawed logic dictates we should also attack saudi arabia too.
CP I hear your girl Michele Malkin has a show after the Fox Faux comedy show – Dream On.
Michael – Lets look at this situation realistically. If Iran wants nuclear weapons then some day they are going to get them. They have the scientific/industrial know how and the money. If we bomb them we will set back their target aquisition date bey several years but short of a massive occupation it will be impossible to prevent. Since the days of the Shah, the Iranian population has been solidly behind the development of nuclear capability. Whether they use that capability to just produce energy or go for weapons development is largely in the hands of Western governments.
Threats will only make Iran speed up nuclear development – it will not for reasons of self-defense make them stop or even slow down. What we have to show them it they have NO NEED for self-defense and the the economic and political advantages they could attain are worth it. Short of a massive invasion/occupation (1.5 to 2.0 million soldiers) we are not going to overthrow the government and the mullahs or put a stop to all nuclear development. Aside from Israel, what other countries armies will join us in invading Iran?
Face it, our Iraq and Iranian problems can be summed up in a few words. We simply do not like muslims, their religion, or their governments. Muslims are the new Negros for Americans.
‘Commanders’ Will Quit If We Attack Iran?…
‘Commanders’ Will Quit If We Attack Iran? Ed Morrissey The Times of London set the blogosphere abuzz this morning, reporting that six senior commanders at the Pentagon will quit if the US attacks Iran. The Pentagon, claims their source, has…
Bill’s Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.02.24…
Some Bill’s Bites posts, some things I excerpted and linked but I’m sending you to the original post. I may rearrange the order of the items within this post as I add new things that I think belong above the…
Attacking Iran makes about as much sense as attacking North Korea. Neither are feasible because of the probable consequences of such an attack.
Our military is now worn out and bogged down from policing a civil war- also due to unintended consequences of an ill-advised invasion. Our military leaders allowed Rumsfeld to run all over them in 2003. They were appalled at his suggestion that Iraq could be won with a small ground invasion, but most (except General Newsome) did not have the guts to quit in protest. They are not going to make the same mistake this time and play patsy to Bush and Gates.
[...] The Times of London set the blogosphere abuzz this morning, reporting that six senior commanders at the Pentagon will quit if the US attacks Iran. The Pentagon, claims their source, has no stomach for a war with the Islamic Republic: SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources. Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack. [...]
C.P: those type of comments are not accepted.
CP – Gotta be something in the Pitt water, now Laura Ingrahm OK. Now, i’d really be worried if you start talking like this about KJLo.
That should read “are not acceptable”.
I have deleted the comment.
It’s all good, MvdG. No worries, fam!
CP What are your thoughts on KJLo? Banning comments for fantasy….