George Rebane

Iran’s downing of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter with one of its sophisticated drones has now changed the face of warfare in the Strait of Hormuz.  While the details of the shoot-down are not yet known, it is clear that the Iranians have some very advanced and deadly drones that can either intercept our aircraft undetected, or can launch a standoff air-to-air missile that our aircraft cannot evade.  It was this capability with the Taliban’s (US supplied) shoulder-fired Stingers in Afghanistan that finally caused the Soviets to pull their troops out and give up the latest European attempt to conquer that country.  If the mullahs now have such weaponry, the whole ballgame in that war has changed.  The only alternatives left for us then is drone warfare and/or boots on the ground – both are slow, expensive, and politically dangerous for the Republicans.  The media has yet to pick up on this sea change.

Evidence of ongoing delusion in the White House.  As our president continues to prevaricate while Iran demonstrates its ability to shut down Hormuz and shoot down our gunship helicopters, he responds with, “If we do the bombing, you know a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t,” Trump told reporters in New York on Tuesday morning. “We’ll have a signed document that’s actually stronger than doing the bombing.”  Stronger document??!! From Iran??!!  This statement is made in the face of a half century of Iran not living up to a single agreement or document it has signed.  “Doing the bombing” has always been the only thing that the murderous, lying ragheads have ever understood.

[11jun26 update]  Well, he’s finally “doing the bombing”. Almost, but still in a half-assed manner going after radar sites, launchers, and command/control facilities.  Hammering these has never had a measurable effect on Iran’s ability to continue launching massive numbers of drones and missiles (they’re not ‘ballistic’).  Latest word is that he’s again falling for the Iranian ropa-dope negotiating delays. Doing the bombing will have the desired impact only when we begin taking out transportation infrastructure (bridges, tunnels, railway yards, …,) then advance to their power grid by destroying distribution facilities, transmission lines, generating stations, …, and finally moving up to their fossil fuel infrastructure hitting storage facilities, pipelines, pumping stations, tanker terminals, and refineries (leave the oil/gas fields alone).  I’ve outlined this progression before, and now is past the time to start doing it.  Today’s watchword from the White House is again ‘better never than late’.