An Aborted War, and the Failure of Trump ' s " Maximum Pressure " Campaign on Iran

President Trump ’slast minute decision to abort a US military strike on Iran is a welcome  sign that someone in the administration knows when to slam the breaks on the “maximum pressure” campaign. There is no national security interest at stake in thedowning of a U.S. drone in the Persian Gulf that could come close to thecosts and risksassociated with bombing Iranian territory and military assets. Furthermore, contrary to those in the administration that tried to encourage a U.S. strike, it is likely such an attack would be escalatory, in contrast to Trump ’s strikes on Syria in 2017 and 2018. Iran has the capability to respond to nearby U.S. assets in the region, andwar games run by the Pentagon going back to the Obama administration have showed even a limited attack carries a high risk of unleashing a major conflict.  More troublingly, there was almost no discussion about the actual political/military objective in striking Iran: what would such an attack seek to achieve, and how were we to measure success? Wars that begin without clear answers to these questions are doomed to failure and miscalculation.The fact that there was hardly any discussion at all about getting authorization from Congress before deciding to engage in new military action against yet another country in the Middle East remains one of the most troubling aspects of this saga. Some members of the Trump administration, most prominently Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have been arguing that the 200...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs