General Martin Dempsey – Attacking Iran is a Really Bad Idea
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, told reporters in London that attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities would not stop their program and would do more harm than good.
An Israeli attack on Iran would delay but probably not stop its nuclear programme, the most senior US military officer has claimed. General Martin Dempsey reinforced Washington’s opposition to unilateral Israelmilitary action as he made clear that US military chiefs were equally wary of getting ensnared in Syria.
In common with Nato’s supreme commander, US admiral James Stavridis, who wrote about Afghanistan for the Guardian on Thursday, Dempsey put a brave face on the situation there. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was speaking to journalists in London, where he attended the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games as head of the US delegation.
Distancing himself from any Israeli plan to bomb Iran, Dempsey said such an attack would “clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear programme”.
He added: “I don’t want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it.”
Dempsey said he did not know Iran’s nuclear intentions, as intelligence did not reveal intentions. What was clear, he said, was that the “international coalition” applying pressure on Iran “could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely”. Sanctions against Iran were having an effect, and they should be given a reasonable opportunity to succeed.
An attack on Iran would be a disaster for the region, Israel and the world economy. Of course John Bolton and Joe Lieberman were quick to criticize Dempsey but neither one of them has ever seen a war they didn’t like and they don’t really have a great track record – think WMD in Iraq.
Do we really want to back or assist in an Israeli attack when the majority of Israeli defense chiefs are reportedly against it? If the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs states that sanctions against Iran are working, why would anyone want to attack first and ask questions later? Are these calls for attacks in Israel and the United States politically motivated and out of touch with the intelligence and military realities? When United States Senator Joseph Lieberman and former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton make claims that it is necessary to attack Iran, should we believe them, or the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the former head of the Mossad?
….
How accurate was the track record of hawks like Senator Lieberman and Ambassador Bolton prior to attacking Iraq because of its alleged weapons of Mass Destruction program? Why do politicians want to send in the military, even before the military thinks it should be involved? Could the upcoming election be part of the reason for these calls for war?
If Bolton and Lieberman are for it that is reason enough to think it’s a really bad idea. Prime Minister Netanyahu hates Obama so would he order an attack before the election thinking it might get him defeated? That’s a question that we should be asking.
Graphic: shutterstock.com
Share This
Related Posts
-
Iraq’s Latest al-Qaeda ‘Bombshell’ (Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates)
Posted on Jun 6, 2013
-
Let’s Take a Walk Down the Memory Hole
Posted on May 16, 2013
-
Secretary Gates on Benghazi Critics’ ‘Cartoonish’ View of Military Capability
Posted on May 12, 2013
-
Nasrallah vs. Qaradawi: Battling Sheikhs Turning Syria into Repeat of Iraq (Al Mada, Iraq)
Posted on May 8, 2013
the problem is that we will be considered complicit in any attack on Iran.
so what do you? damned if you do and damned if you dont?
all we can do is try to talk down Israel will squeezing Iran tighter.
but if israel goes ahead, we are in…as far as the arab world is concerned
There’s no love lost between Obama and Netanyahu. Whether N would do something, if he could, to tip the election is another story. It’s hard to tell if an attack would do more to enhance Obama or Romney. People tend to rally round the President when things get dicy elsewhere. And some people are already nervous about Romney’s neocon foreign policy advisors. They scare the heck out of me.
@ The Ohioan
Yes, I think if all hell broke lose because of a foolish Israeli attack on Iran it would help Obama. I doubt that Bibi realizes that however.
One can be sure Bolton and Lieberman will be voting for Romney. Romney missed the Vietnam War as a youth, but we can be sure he will not be missing a war against Iran as President.
You got that right. Talk about a litmus test. Old men strut around rattling sabres and starting wars, but they never die in them. They never even fight in them. Leave all that dying stuff to the young and trusting. Yes, attacking Iran would be the height of idiocy. I can’t think of a quicker way for Israel to lose favor with the American people than to drag us into another stupid war.
One issue that keeps getting ignored is Iran’s Fordow facility buried in a mountain near Qom. The last IAEA report indicates a significant build -up of centrifuges there and diminishing capacity at Natanz. My nephew is a F-16I wing commander in the IAF and would be part of any Israeli attack performing air defense suppression. He laughs at the thought of hitting Fordow with 5,000/lb bombs (the largest the the Israeli F-15 Strike Eagles can carry). Everyone in the IAF knows that Fordow is impenetrable to the Israelis and most probably to the U.S. short of nuclear weapons. Without knocking our Fordow, Iran’s nuclear program will continue unfazed and completed fairly quickly when the IAEA inspectors are thrown out of the country because of an attack.
Remember, Fordow is built just like our Norad Cheyenne Mountain facility. I can tell you that most IAF personnel don’t believe there will be an Israeli strike against Iran. The only hope is that the U.S. will find a way to do it for them.
whatever happened to our “mini-nuke” program? small nukes designed to bust places like Fordow.
It has been a long while since I have heard anything about that program.
Shannon – A nuke is a nuke is a nuke – no matter what the size. It will spill radioactive dust into the atmosphere which will wander the Earth. The premptive use of a nuke will open the gates of Hell as any moral prohibitions on it’s use will be gone. For this reason, we and everyone else abandoned the program. However, both Russia and the US have a supply of small nukes designed as artillery shells.