UNPALATABLE OPTIONS [ UPDATED]Colonel Pat Lang of
Sic Semper Tyrannis and counterterrorism expert
Larry Johnson have penned an article for
In The National Interest on American options in Iran. Interestingly, as fairly severe critics of the Bush administration and the failures of the IC in Iraq they see Iran's nuclear program as a real and dire issue for which exists a paucity of good options.
What if grand diplomacy fails ( And diplomacy will only succeed if
all the great powers, the UN and Iran's neighbors are solidly arrayed against a completely isolated Teheran -
and we offer the Iranians a " good deal" - and even then this will only serve to delay the progress of the nuke program) ?:
Our real problem is the nature of the Iranian regime - particularly the faction that backs President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which represents the "permanent revolution" wing of Iranian Islamist hardliners. My view is if the consequences of striking Iran are as significant as projected and the nuclear facilities targets are as hardened, dispersed and concealed as described, that we might as well make a grand decapitation attack instead against Iran's hardline faction and organs of security, control and communication, depriving the survivors of effective levers of power over the Iranian people. Sort of an Operation Desert Fox on steroids and methamphetamines. Perhaps we can incite and arm the Baluchi tribesmen of Eastern Iran as well, though Pakistan would probably be rather jumpy about that kind of a covert-op. After we max out the decapitation option we can turn our attention to Iran's nuclear infrastructure and degrade it methodically.
Pull the arrows out of the Mullah's quiver before breaking their bow.
UPDATE:"
How we duped the West, by Iran's nuclear negotiator" in the
UK Telegraph(Hat Tip
: Memeorandum)