Max Boot, author of Savage Wars of Peace, among other books, wrote the following op-ed for the Washington Post:
One reason we are posting this is that he linked a line in his article to our blog post:
But this is a op-ed worth reading. There are few points of significance here:
- “Instead, what I see is the mother of all quagmires: a conflict that would make the Iraq War — which I now deeply regret supporting — seem like a “cakewalk” by comparison.”
- “Air attacks are usually decisive only when combines with ground attacks.:”
- “Unfortunately, the United States lacks a realistic ground option in Iran…”
- “Iran could employ a combination of antiship cruise missiles, drones, submarines, small boats and mines to “swarm” U.S. naval ships in the confined waters of the Persian Gulf.”
- “In response, the United States would do…what?
I do note that Iran could probably also shut down the flow of oil from the Persian/Arabian Gulf for a while. This will certainly affect oil markets worldwide. Still, there is no question that the Saudi Arabia (with the other Gulf States) and/or the United States could establish air superiority over the Gulf. In the long run, that will work to our advantage. There will be a cost to this.
