President Donald Trump is treading on dangerous territory in the Middle East. He is unnecessarily putting the United States at risk of another war. The cautionary approaches of former President Barack Obama are being ignored.
"A new war in the Persian Gulf could start accidentally—and would take a toll on U.S. forces," according to The American Conservative.
Nevertheless, the Senate "is poised to pass legislation that will place President Trump’s trigger-happy finger on the ignition switch of a deadly conflict with Iran."
TomDispatch:
Read it and weep (as they used to say): Here's the head of U.S. Central Command General Joseph Votel threatening to use "military means" against Iran. Keep an eye on this one. It may be the most dangerous military urge that the generals Trump has chosen have: they all have the desire to quite literally take out Iran, especially Secretary of Defense General "Mad Dog" Mattis.
"The nation's top military official in the Middle East on Wednesday said Iran is one of the greatest threats to the U.S. today and has increased its "destabilizing role" in the region.
"I believe that Iran is operating in what I call a gray zone," Commander of the U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, told the House Armed Services Committee in testimony Wednesday. "And it's an area between normal competition between states — and it's just short of open conflict."
"The general said Iran is exploiting this area in a variety of different ways, through things such as "lethal aid facilitation," the use of "surrogate forces" and cyber activities, among other things. He also believes Iran poses "the greatest long-term threat to stability" in the entire region.
"U.S. Central Command is responsible for U.S. security interests in an area stretching from the Persian Gulf region into Central Asia. It includes more than 80,000 soldiers on land, sea and air as well as the ongoing campaign to defeat Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (or ISIS) as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"We need to look at opportunities where we can disrupt [Iran] through military means or other means their activities," he said. "We need to look at opportunities where we can expose and hold them accountable for the things that they are doing...."
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By Jeff Daniels
