TWO FORMER CIA DIRECTORS CALL ON BIDEN TO THREATEN IRAN MILITARILY
“The military threat the U.S. poses to Iran is a key reason why the Iranian nuclear program has expanded,” an analyst said, criticizing the statement.
Jeremy Scahill
December 17 2021
A HAWKISH GAGGLE of former U.S. national security officials, lawmakers, and diplomats has launched a public campaign to pressure the Biden administration into militarily threatening Iran. The statement, headlined by former CIA chiefs Leon Panetta and retired Gen. David Petraeus [is he out of prison already?] as well as former Obama-era senior Pentagon official Michèle Flournoy [I thought the Iran Deal people wanted her to be SecDef? How do these people get so lucky, to be wrong about everything?] asserts that “it is vital to restore Iran’s fear that its current nuclear path will trigger the use of force against it by the United States.”
The statement — which was also signed by former Democratic Rep. Jane Harman and Democratic diplomatic heavyweight Dennis Ross [nom de guerre: "Israel's lawyer"], and published by the Washington Institute, a militarist think tank — argues that the Biden administration must “take steps that lead Iran to believe that persisting in its current behavior and rejecting a reasonable diplomatic resolution will put to risk its entire nuclear infrastructure, one built painstakingly over the last three decades.” They suggest that President Joe Biden consider “orchestrating high-profile military exercises by the U.S. Central Command, potentially in concert with allies and partners, that simulate what would be involved in such a significant operation, including rehearsing air-to-ground attacks on hardened targets and the suppression of Iranian missile batteries.”
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