WAR WITH IRAN: A UNIQUE KIND OF WAR

I heard an intriguingly provocative comment this morning made by a guest on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. He said war with Iran was possible but that if it happened it would not involve troops on the ground. If that happened, it would be unique; the first war ever that did not involved land troops of some kind. I am not a war historian but I think that is a true statement.

This leaves open the provocative question, “How would Iran respond?” Their real target country is the United States. However, they have threatened Israel. Even then, Iran has several countries between them and their surrogate target Israel. Such a war would create a situation unique in the world of warfare. We fought Britain, Japan, Germany, Korea, Spain and Vietnam even though we did not have common boarders (except Canada in 1812 and in the Aleutian Islands in WW II) but in some cases, we had allies that did. We might have Turkey in a war with Iran but that would not be an “easy” ally.  Iran has seacoasts but if we did not land troops, access by water would make little difference. Admittedly, it would make carrier based drone attacks easier.

Would the intervening countries allow Iranian troops to pass in route toward Israel our troops in route to Iran? Even if they did, I don’t think that would even be feasible; it would be a logistic nightmare for Iran and for us. The countries on the other side of Iran, even though potential allies of Iran, probably could not play a part; therefore, would only act as geological barriers: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. What it boils down to is we would bomb Iran, use drones, and satellites, and they would shoot rockets over the intervening counties, principally Iraq, into Israel. It would be a unique war to fight but a war with absolutely nothing for the principle protagonists to gain, which makes it like many other wars.

So what if Iran had the atomic bomb and an egomaniac as their leader? What would he do with it without long-range missiles?  Perhaps finally, warmongers have found a war they want to fight but don’t know how to justify or how to do it; let them wallow in frustration, which would be the only price we would pay for letting the current president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shoot off his mouth and continue to chest bump with Netanyahu.