So far our attacks on Iran have been in the form of an air war. Or maybe not? That all of a sudden is a bit vague. What is not is statements from SecDef Hegseth and JCS Chair Caine is the intention to ‘move inland. That folks means U.S. ground forces. Soldiers and Marines engaged in ground fighting on Iranian soil. Inevitably the battles will cause casualties, as in dead and wounded U.S. troops.
We’ve already lost some of our people. We have allies in the region who allow U.S. forces to be based there and an Iranian missile struck a large (more or less) trailer that was neither guarded nor got any warning about incoming missiles. The administration can offer it’s ‘thoughts and prayers’ bullshit platitudes but those U.S. troops shouldn’t be dead, even though we started a war and Iran started shooting back. That’s another topic however. What matters, and what should make Americans (and yes, MAGAs who already feel betrayed by Trump starting this war) truly concerned is the casual discussion about ‘moving inland’ which again means sending combat troops in.
However, as you can see as reported by The Mirror US that’s exactly the mindset at the Pentagon (and WH too) today. One can be sure Iran’s Revolutionary Guard will put up a fight. Much more so than Iraq’s forces (including Saddam’s vaunted by him Republican Guard) did during that war. Yet, the administration and the DOD, even the top military leader seem almost casual about planning to invade. There was more than one troubling aspect to today’s briefing but let’s start with the one I’m writing about – boots on the ground:
During the briefing, Gen. Caine revealed that U.S. forces have already begun planning the next phase of the attack. According to Caine, the U.S. is ready to start encroaching on Iranian territory and moving inland.
“We will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory and creating additional freedom of maneuver for U.S. forces,” Caine said. The general also added that the military would target Iranian missile launchers to prevent them from targeting American forces and their allies. It comes after a chilling map emerged revealing the 12 safest places to find refuge if WW3 erupts.
The linked article is a short one. It includes comments that are a mix of criticism and praise for what’s going on. It only takes a minute to read and you should. What I have to say takes a bit longer but I hope you’ll indulge me because it’s worth your time to understand why you should be applying pressure to elected representatives.
It’s a given, at least to me that we have some U.S. ground forces in Iraq. Spec Ops people are trained to get in and provide up to the minute intel on potential targets. They are capable of, and usually do slip in, do their jobs and slip back out undetected. However we are talking about something quite different, and MORE now. First of all I see a bit of ambiguity in the language that’s been used. Despite no mention of troopships being talked about during that massive Naval buildup it would be easy to slip in some small combat units that might already be at work. There’s suggestion of ‘operations on the periphery’ if you will.
Still, it would take time to deploy a large force capable of mounting a major land battle. I could be wrong about the capabilities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard but I think trying to take out entire sites of launchers, weapons and weapons manufacturing with platoon or even company sized units we can manage to get ashore right now is a recipe for a lot of American blood soaking Iranian soil. I know I was a lowly Marine grunt but I’m an amateur military historian and student of the profession of arms. I’ve also known plenty of people who fought in wars, and sadly some who came home with life altering injuries or in a steel coffin. I’ve read both Hegseth’s and Caine’s bios in detail and they are both out of their league.
Hegseth, for all his strutting Patton cosplay did NOT serve in a combat role in Afghanistan. He was more or less a public affairs officer who when he did venture out was providing security for fact finders – politicians and journalists. Later he was part of a training unit. Not safe work by any means but it was NOT the kind of danger actual platoon commanders in front line units faced. It was however enough to ‘punch’ his ‘I served in a war zone’ ticket which he parlayed into a cushy gig on Fox News. And now he’s SecDef! I won’t go so far as to say he knows nothing of war but he doesn’t know much, and certainly not as much as he pretends. So there’s that.
That brings me to Caine who at least had a real, and solid career in the Air Force. He did a couple of combat tours flying f-16s, which I should add are not strike aircraft – by strike I mean fitted for air to ground operations although they can be to a limited degree. He did serve in Spec Ops command roles, albeit from an aerial war viewpoint but one posting at least had him working with ground operators on planning. So again, when it comes to ground ops he does know stuff, just not as much as he and Team Trump want everyone to think.
I might be wrong but I believe so far Caine has been fronting press briefings and none of the Service heads who fight on the ground or other top folks who’ve been ‘ground pounders’ have been out there. I might wind up with egg on my face for what I’m saying but I think Team Trump is fearful of someone with actual solid knowledge and experience in ground fighting up there taking questions. They might forget their lines/talking points and offer some realistic opinions that Team Trump doesn’t want people to hear! We’ll see in the days and weeks ahead about this theory of mine if we really do invade.
Don’t expect Israel who forced us into this war to commit any of THEIR ground troops. They learned the hard way in Lebanon four decades ago that while they are tigers defending their own soil (as most countries are) they can’t project power even a hundred kilometers beyond their own border and control even part of another country. They had to have us bail them out and it cost us dearly, both at the time and ever since. But I digress.
Caine revealed something about himself that should both scare and outrage us with his quip about hoping he didn’t kill anyone with his laser pointer. Six Americans are already dead and dozens more wounded you “Zoomy” (slang insult for Air Force which is usually unfair because they to have a lot of great people) asshole! That brings me to the whole Pete and Dean duet about our mission in Iran being “laser focused.” Really?
The dot of the laser might itself be focused but it’s dancing all over the place. From why we started this war to begin with to what our objectives are. It’s been enough days they finally came up with a list of sorts. Talk about having things ass-backwards. The way it’s supposed to work is you come up with a credible assessment with proof of why war is necessary, then brief Congress and when the shooting starts go on TV right then and there to lay out the case. Why we’re fighting and the conditions being met to stop said fighting.
This has been a make it up as you go cluster f**k from the start and that laser? It’s been dancing around like someone using aiming at a wall and moving it around to laugh at the cat trying to chase it!
Seriously though I know this, I KNOW it. If we send in ground troops (beyond the SpecOps I mentioned earlier) there will be blood, limbs and even lives lost by American troops in Iran. And despite the wildest wishful thinking fantasies, the ridiculous theory Trump/the WH latched on to that hitting Iran hard would cause an uprising that would sweep away all remnants of the old regime the ONLY thing that will make that happen is a major war. Iran is a much larger country and a tougher military and political/leadership problem than Iraq was. Think the most difficult parts of Iraq (the insurgency that formed within weeks) and Afghanistan (trying to eliminate the Taliban which we failed to do) only at several times the scale.
Americans, including Republicans won’t stand for it. MAGAs won’t let the GOP get away with fluffing Trump on this for very long. Right now Republicans on Capitol Hill are running cover for Trump but they are almost certain to lose the House and continued support will cost them the Senate too. Thune isn’t McConnel and won’t be able to shove through replacements for either Scalia or Thomas between election day and a Democratic Senate being sworn in.
In the meantime starting right now discussions need to be taking place between Congressional GOPers and the WH to stop this sh*t and soon. AND make it clear that while they won’t allow votes to block Trump’s war powers for the air war, that the kind of use of ground forces (and the casualties that would result) are a different story. It’s one huge hot mess and things CAN get worse. If history going back forever teaches us the bitter fact is that no matter how bad things get sometimes some asshat or group of them can come along and make things worse.
Let’s light up all Congress Critters to start raising “NO GROUND TROOPS!” hell and maybe stop this. Trump had a viable deal on nuclear stuff on the table and rejected it. Let’s hope he can be convinced to suddenly accept it (after all it limited Iran’s uranium enrichment even more than Obama’s deal did) and declare victory. Most of us including a majority of Republicans will see his (and Hegeseth’s ) Dick Waving as pathetic assholes waving something no one wants to see. No matter because Trump’s ‘human printer’ will find plenty of manufactured stories praising his Dick Waving wrapped up in war. A few stores with images of tall mushroom clouds not being as big as Trump’s dick will mollify him!
General Caine’s presentation suggests the “move inland” remark could be referring to airstrikes, not boots on the ground. Most of the airstrikes to date have been with what he calls “standoff munitions at range,” which means outside the enemy’s reach, to “stand-in munitions,” like GPS-guided bombs, which are delivered by aircraft within reach of Iranian defenses, but presumably safer because most of those defenses have been neutralized.