One War Aim Might Require Boots on the Ground

Who is afraid of boots on the ground? In a word: everybody. Yet a top goal of the Iran war is denying a nuclear weapon to a terrorist regime. And that might require commandos to land in Iran and take enriched uranium out of the caves in which it is buried. Is that what “frightened” Senator Richard Blumenthal, who emerged from a Pentagon briefing, bellowing, “we seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran?”Every American president since at least Bill Clinton vowed to deny the Islamic Republic a pathway to an atomic weapon. We can argue from here to a mushroom cloud over faults, but the reality is that the Iranians have long been, and seemingly still are, too close for comfort to becoming a member of the global nuclear club. Preventing that outcome is a widely accepted American goal. Attacks from the air could, at best, pave the way.Back in June America declined to bomb a site called Pickaxe, which according to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Dan Caine, is too deeply dug even for our 30,000-pound bunker busters. As President Trump put it, the site, where the Iranians are attempting to reconstitute their nuclear program, is “protected by granite.” The Israelis, and perhaps America too, are reportedly preparing an air, or even a ground operation there. Meanwhile, the regime might repurpose previously-enriched uranium. “What we believe is that Isfahan had until our last inspection a bit more than 200 kilograms, maybe a little bit more than that, of 60 percent uranium,” the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. That near-bomb-level uranium can fuel at least five bombs. Iranians are widely reported to be trying to reach it at Isfahan’s previously-bombed site. Advocates of appeasement claim that diplomacy could end the mullah’s nuclear aspirations. That’s not how Mr. Trump’s chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, tells it. His Iranian counterparts wouldn’t budge in negotiations that led to the February 28 onset of Epic Fury, he told CNBC on Tuesday. Added he: “Evidence suggests” that they still won’t compromise. If neither air strikes nor diplomacy would deny the bomb to the mullahs, what’s left?Scientists in the Department of Energy’s Mobile Packaging Program are trained to collect nuclear fuel in hostile environments. Israel has similar programs. Securing a path for these technicians to work in Iran might be the ideal way to allow them to dig out the enriched uranium, load it up on cargo planes, and safely fly them out of Iran. Yet securing the environment for such an operation from the air might take too long. Mr. Trump is indicating he would rather end the war sooner than later. Time seems of the essence. If a path is well prepared, a “commando option could be feasible,” a non-proliferation watcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, Andrea Stricker, tells our Benny Avni. Special forces from America, Israel, or both could accompany scientists that can wake up the mullahs from their nuclear dreams, or at least deny them the bomb for a long time. Such a task might indeed require enlisting some boots on the ground. Detractors will cry “mission creep.” Yet for every Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq, there is a Granada, Panama, and Venezuela. Epic Fury need not last for years on end. Specialized infantry units focused on ending the mullahs’ deadly nuclear aspirations could hasten the achievement of the president’s declared war aims and thus prevent an endless war.

One War Aim Might Require Boots on the Ground

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