Former Army lieutenant general Keith Kellogg thinks all the US need do to turn the tide in Iran is take Kharg Island. “We don’t necessarily have to send troops into Iran, but we need to capture Kharg Island. We need to do it the way the Romans did. We need to put legions on the ground to secure the territory,” he said.
The Roman legions didn’t face Shahed-136 kamikaze drones. Iran will undoubtedly send a legion of drones, missiles, and rockets against any attempt to occupy Kharg, Qeshm, Kish, Hormuz, or the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands.
According to retired US army lieutenant colonel Earl Rasmussen, a ground invasion of Iran would be a months-long nightmare. If the US sends troops to Iran, including Kharg island, they will suffer heavy losses, potentially expanding the conflict for months or even years. “This implies sending troops there either through the Strait of Hormuz or landing on the other side of the Persian Gulf—from Saudi Arabia. Both would be extremely difficult,” he explained.
Chris Murphy, Deputy Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said recently a ground invasion of Iran will translate into “thousands of Americans dying.” Murphy and other Democrats pushed for a symbolic vote on a war powers resolution in the absence of Congress adhering to the Constitution and Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 (the exclusive power of Congress to declare war).
Joe Kent, a former United States Army warrant officer, former CIA paramilitary officer, and director of the National Counterterrorism Center who resigned his post over Trump’s war and the pervasive and corrosive influence of Israel and its lobby, warns a ground war against Iran would “be a disaster.” For his effort to avoid this disaster, Kent has been denounced as a traitor and, in de rigueur fashion, an antisemite. He is currently under investigation for “leaking classified information” and the crime of talking with the media. The FBI is building a case against him.
Trump, his delusional disorder growing worse with each passing day, has decided to send the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a 2,200-troop force, to West Asia to confront Iran. “A Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) can deliver an initial surge of troops quickly, but seizing and holding key terrain, or sustaining a prolonged fight, would almost certainly require a far larger ground force,” reports ABC News.
If we follow Trump’s illogic, the US does not need to send a single soldier to die on Kharg Island because the US won the war. If you doubt this, as millions of Americans do, then you’re a sucker for fake news, according to the president. Despite this deranged chimera, Trump has proposed a 15 point plan to “end the war,” a plan Iran rejected out of hand. It calls for Iran to dismantle its nuclear program, stop supporting “proxy groups,” agree to put its missile program up for discussion, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In turn, Iran presented a plan of its own, little different than the plan it initially offered. It demands the closure of all US bases in the Persian Gulf, a guarantee against attacks in the future, reparations for the damage inflicted on Iran, an end to strikes against Hezbollah, lifting all sanctions, and international recognition of Iran’s authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met,” an Iranian official told Press TV. The official promised continued “heavy blows” against Israel, GCC nations, and US bases in West Asia until a reasonable plan is presented. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, quipped: “Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?… People like us can never get along with people like you.”
Following Iran’s rejection of the 15 point plan, the Pentagon confirmed the deployment of troops to West Asia. In response, Iran announced that if US ground troops are sent, it will invade the coastline of the UAE and Bahrain. Additionally, Iran may open a new front on the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim. “If the Americans intend to take action regarding the Strait of Hormuz, they should be careful not to add another strait to their challenges … Iran is fully prepared to escalate the situation.”
Israel and Netanyahu, however, have indicated they are not onboard with Trump’s plan. On March 24, Netanyahu gave an order for the Israeli military to accelerate attacks on Iran, fearing the US would find an off-ramp and stop short of destroying Iran.
Israel’s stated war aim is to severely degrade or eliminate Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and military capacity. However, there is a larger and long-standing objective: the destruction of not only Iran, but Israel’s Arab neighbors as well. This was spelled out in the “Clean Break” report presented to Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996. Zionist neocons (Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, Meyrav Wurmser, and others) were responsible for the document. Rather than pursuing a “comprehensive peace,” the document calls for Israel to “contain, destabilize, and roll-back” Arab nations and Persian Iran.
In 2007, during an interview with Democracy Now, retired four-star general Wesley Clark revealed the ambitious imperial plans of the Bush-Cheney inner circle. “We’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran,” he said after a visit to the Pentagon.
“The paper identified Iran as the final obstacle to Israeli hegemony, advocating for its isolation and eventual collapse,” writes Ali Sanaullah. “Nearly 30 years later, the policy paper has reached a critical stage. The ongoing war between Iran and Israel, and now the possibility of a direct US invasion of Iran, suggest that we are witnessing and play in action of a long-term geopolitical design.”
Trump’s desperate effort to find an off-ramp is now being sabotaged by Netanyahu and Israel-first Zionists in America. “The Israel Defense Forces were ordered by Netanyahu to strike as many high-value Iranian targets as possible as the US submitted a 15-point peace plan on Tuesday,” reports the Daily Mail. “The directive came after the Israeli prime minister reviewed a copy of Trump’s 15-point plan to end the war. Iranian regime officials, however, rejected the proposal via state media on Wednesday.”
In addition to increasing pressure on Iran, Netanyahu has announced an expansion of his illegal “buffer zone” (cover for annexation) in Lebanon.
Reprinted with permission from Another Day in the Empire.
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