If the millions of Iranians that have protested and been slaughtered by the Islamic Republic don't take their nation back we will have at least set their nuclear bomb making capabilities back many years.
I thought it was already obliterated the first time. Did it need to be more obliteratored?
I'm sure we did.
Is that our exit criteria?
Are you willing to walk at this point? Or are we locked in for more?
If the regime hunkers down and holds on, are you willing to live with that?
Or does exit require their replacement? Even if it takes a 500k occupation for 10 years.
Those are the interesting questions that should have been debated in Congress and voted on.
Even from a purely tactical point of view. It looks now like this move does not have the backing of Congress or the majority of the American people.
What you are signaling to them is to not surrender but hunker down until the mid-terms.
A Congressional Authorization of Force would have sent a clear signal that this is the durable will of the American people. That's a better negotiating position.
