Could U.S. Weakness Invite Unplanned Military Confrontation with Iran?
Bing West is exactly right that the administration's decision to send a carrier battle group to Yemen and then broadcast that it's just there for show is "feckless." Even worse - given that Iranians are now buzzing U.S. ships - and engaging in other provocative acts, I fear that we're inviting ever-closer encounters - encounters that carry inherent risk of confrontation since they depend not just on American discipline but Iranian discipline as well. Under conventional rules of engagement, every American ship possesses an inherent right of self-defense, and decisions whether to exercise that right are being made with decreasing margins for error the closer Iranian forces get.
To be sure, going back to the Cold War, the American Navy has demonstrated that it can exercise extreme degrees of discipline - as did their Soviet rivals. But do we trust the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be as disciplined? Critically, do our own sailors trust Iranian discipline as much as they trusted the discipline of their Great Power rival?
We're sending sailors into close proximity of a shooting war, Iran is sending its own assets into the same area, and we're telling the world that we're not serious about our presence. Years of experience in the Middle East teaches us that our enemies always test the limits, consistently going up to and beyond danger zone. Unless the message the American forces are sending locally is substantially different than the message being sent internationally, we're playing games with an aircraft carrier, and that is perilous indeed.Also read:
Obama Deceived Americans About Iran's Nuclear Breakout Time
State Department Won't Rule Out $50 Billion 'Signing Bonus' For Iran
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