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and television media have been excitedly covering the many talking heads on the
possibility of a shooting war between Iran and the United States. President
Trump has indicated that if anything did occur it would be over quickly and devastatingly
for Iran – and no ground forces would be involved from the American side. How might this be accomplished?
The
Iranian leadership appears to live in their own self-created fantasy world.
They seek to believe that the United States is bluffing when they are told by
President Trump that Washington will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Tehran's response has been to offer to “discuss” the various issues in
conflict, but first existing economic sanctions must be removed. Apparently,
the rules of logic do not apply in the Persian mind of Iran's president, Hassan
Rouhani. Perhaps he really doesn't believe the United States has the courage
and capability to take on the mystically powerful Iran.
He
would be mistaken. Washington may be divided in domestic political terms, but
there is an overwhelming agreement on the danger Iran ultimately poses to world
peace. America's military leaders know full well the strengths and shortcomings
of Iran's abilities. Translating this to the political perceptions of the White
House may be a different story. In the same manner Iran's military may have s
good idea of the might of the U.S. Armed Forces, but the mullah-led country
seems unwilling or unable to recognize the obvious – or at least have blinded
themselves to the potential of the reality.
That
reality includes an American and Allied attack based on sequential use of
non-nuclear stand-off and high-altitude pre-programmed weaponry. The actual
weapons are of course classified, but precision guided, earth-penetrating and
hyperbaric explosives are clearly available. The key element is the gathering
of technical intelligence on the siting of priority targets. This, for the most
part, already has been accomplished and is updated daily.
With
an aim to avoid U.S. casualties, the existing Iranian air bases and anti-aircraft
batteries would be destroyed by appropriate stand-off weapons. Following that,
all Iranian naval facilities and warships will be missile targeted. In addition
to the U.S. assets forward deployed in the Middle East, allied elements
regionally provide excellent attack support along with the pre-positioned
American weaponry. Coordination of course is essential and will be aided by
satellite communication and surveillance. Offensive cyber actions will take
down Iranian capabilities in that arena while the enemy's use of other forms of
communication will be reduced or completely eliminated by high altitude attack
modes.
The
entire Iranian underground nuclear development structure will be the final and
most critical target. The aim will be to destroy all existing nuclear
development, support and supply as well as existing hardware. The use of
Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) will be key to this operation. This will be
the final phase of the attack on Iran's war-making potential as a modern
nation.
At
this point, traditional Western war fighting assessment suggests that Iran will
succumb to the logic of such devastation. Unfortunately, this is not in the
mystical mindset of the strict Shia Islamic dominated Iranian governance. The well-armed one hundred thousand man Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) with its specialized Quds Force along with an international
terrorist network could remain effectively in place and willing to die in
combat with the infidels. Massive numbers of U.S. and Allied ground forces would
have to be introduced to take on these Iranian units, while international
terrorist activities supported and guided by Iran would explode.The basic
operational theme of the American attack without use of ground forces would be
completely undermined. It could be expected that a generalized anti-U.S.
political campaign would result, to say nothing of possible opportunistic
anti-U.S. military action.
A
contributing factor to this conflict, even on the diplomatic front is the fact
that within Shia Islam is the concept that deception, disinformation and denial
are useful and approved tools in countering non-believers' actions and
agreements. Thus, peaceful negotiation without a controlling instrument is an
exercise in futility. A revolution within Iran at this time appears wishful
thinking. A war may seem to be inevitable to some, but the result will not be a
“clean” decision.
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