The last week was a rather interesting spectator sport for navalists. In a flash – even while little was known – a not insignificant percentage of the American NATSEC nomenklatura were ready to do everything from sinking the Iranian navy in port, to reflagging tankers for an extended convoy exercise.
Well, a lot has changed in 30 years – so besides an unsettling habit of reaching for the “M” first without contemplating the “D,” “I,” or “E” options, it was like yelling in a blizzard to tell people that none of the ships were American. None of the sailors were American. None of the cargo was heading to America. No ships were sunk. No sailors were killed.
For some, that didn’t matter – and that should give everyone pause.
Any military strike is a dark room to step in to. You don’t know what will follow. Everyone seems to think that Red Most Likely COA will actually happen – but our history for much of the last quarter century has shown us that reality edges closer to Red Most Dangerous COA.
We are not the world’s policeman. We are not the world’s only military force. We have friends and allies, and when they are threatened we should stand by them … but in this case the nations most impacted were Norway and Japan. This is their lead, and at best their posture is de-escalatory, we should follow.
It is a great thing about when one nation – in this case Iran – does something stupid that doesn’t have much of an impact on blood and treasure. It buys time for non-stupid nations – if they decided to take that option – to address the initiating nation’s stupidity in calm, measured tones.
Well, it was with great pleasure to this blogg’r yesterday when David Larter delivered a big 4-star bucket of cold water on all the NATSEC hot-heads out there, skillfully provided by General Paul Selva, USAF, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;
“We have maintained across the sea lanes of the world a position of defending freedom of navigation,” Selva said. “Specifically, in the Strait of Hormuz and the [Arabian] Gulf, we’ve taken on an international responsibility of ensuring freedom of navigation and the movement of oil in and out of the Gulf. That doesn’t mean it’s a U.S.-only problem. If we take this on as a U.S.-only responsibility, nations that benefit from that movement of oil through the Persian Gulf are bearing little or no responsibility for the economic benefit they gain from the movement of that oil.”
…and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it is done.
