The McMedia is already speculating on what it will or will not take to win a war with Iran, in case the United States decides to renew the option on the award-winning world war series still awaiting its third season episode. Evidently, two world wars are never enough for a species for whom most of its greatest technological advances were made as a result of warfare. “What about the moon landing?!” Some military personnel rode a ballistic missile up to a lifeless spherical rock. So? Who invented the ballistic missile? The Third Reich who launched them at London in the last days of World War Two.
Now, you will hear conservatives assuring you we can win a war with Iran. Keep in mind they told you we could have won the Vietnam War, would win the Iraq War, and will win the Afghan War sometime in the next few decades. We cannot pass prosperity on to future generations, so we’ll pass them a war to fight in for reasons dreamed up before their birth. Make no mistake, the United States cannot win a war with Iran. Need proof? The Iran-Iraq War went on for eight years, during which time Iran soaked up between 200,000 to 600,000 killed in action. In turn, Iran inflicted between 250,000 to 500,000 killed in action on Iraq. Iraq used chemical weapons. No dice. It did not break Iranian resolve.
There are two points to be made here. First, Iran suffered heavy casualties and did not waver. This would completely render the U.S. “Shock And Awe” battle doctrine “Null And Void” because Iran would not be intimidated by American firepower. The U.S. relies on demonstrations of heavy firepower to cow opponents. When that doesn’t work is when the U.S. is out of options and begins losing the war. Second, Iran was able to suffer those casualties and then turn around and inflict the same on Iraq. Iranian troops are highly motivated and tightly disciplined. So, they will certainly be able to create heavy American casualties even after suffering the same. Not only that, but look at American supply lines for such a war! Look at a map of Iran and tell me how the American supply lines will be protected from continual hit and run attacks by guerrillas alone, not to mention Iranian warplanes. Click To Tweet
Wait until Iran retaliates by blocking the Straits of Hormuz. Then watch the United States cut off from Persian Gulf oil. But the main point here is this: How will the United States soak up at least 50,000 dead before a massive antiwar protest movement mobilizes against a draft necessary to fight such a war? “We’ll win it with air power!” Yes, and Field Marshall Goering told Hitler that, too, assuring Hitler that Britain could be subdued with air power. All it did was strengthen British resolve to bomb German cities in retaliation, which they did. Just five years after the Battle of Britain, British and American bombers incinerated Dresden and had already leveled most German cities. Air power works both ways. The United States government can be accused of many things, but learning from history is not one of them. Look at the “air war”” the U.S. waged against ISIS. Years of bombing and ISIS just got stronger. In the end, it was won by Syrian and Iranian ground forces backed by Russian air support. Air power alone does not win wars.
That brings the next point. Iran has a lot of battle-hardened troops fresh from fighting ISIS fanatics. They can certainly inflict heavy casualties on the United States. It only takes an Iranian cruise missile to sink one U.S. aircraft carrier and you’ve got the American casualties of the Iraq War all at once. Yes, Iran has cruise missiles. They also captured an advanced U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone about seven years ago and have reverse-engineered a copy of it. Iran jammed the communications of the drone (using Russian electronic jamming equipment) and basically convinced the drone to land in Iran, which it did. Then they copied it and have fielded it. They’re not just going to roll over like Iraq’s military did in 2003. By the way, Iran has submarines, too.
The fact is, the U.S. conducted a war game scenario of an attack on Iran during the George W. Bush administration. It ended up as a military disaster for the United States, with the U.S. losing sixteen ships. Ships lost included one aircraft carrier, ten cruisers and five of six amphibious assault ships. An equivalent success in a real conflict would have resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 military personnel, dwarfing the Iraq War dead for the United States. You can look it up. It was called “Millennium Challenge 2002”. The United States government already knows an attack on Iran will be a disaster.
Now I ask you, how can it be said that these warmongers can win a war with Iran if the very attack launching the war will be a catastrophe? Japan launched the Pearl Harbor attack knowing there was a great probability of success or they would not have done it. The only reason it wasn’t a total success is they didn’t catch our aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor. But here goes the United States knowing it’s own Pearl Harbor attack against Iran will be a complete disaster and thinks it can win such a war anyway! Astonishing! Has there ever been a nation with such a vast military who was also so astoundingly incompetent using it? People to this day point out the tactical mistakes the Third Reich made, but our blunders are worse because we go into them knowing we’ll fail!
So, here we go again. Another war we can’t win. Another slaughter of innocent people who have done nothing to us. Typical military-industrial complex hubris to be followed up hundreds of thousands of innocent people dead, perhaps millions. And for what? For absolutely nothing! #WeNeverLearn
“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Ghion Journal is a reader and viewer funded endeavor. We disavow corporate contributions and depend only on the support of our audience to sustain us. The tip jar is earmarked to go directly to the writer, the link below is customized to directly to the author’s account. We thank you in advance for your kindness.
Jack Perry
Latest posts by Jack Perry (see all)
- The Vietnam War of Health Care - December 17, 2018
- Respect For The Dead Does Not Include Lying For Them - September 1, 2018
- Moving Beyond the Value Set of Capitalism - August 23, 2018
