there's a lot to unpack in this article. I'd agree on some things and disagree on others, as you might expect. Let me start by saying I have no idea what the conversations between trump and the Pentagon leaders were concerning the Iran military capabilities or the strength of its leaders. I do know, at least in my day, there were detailed compilations, strengths. weaknesses, equipment, ways to defeat their defenses etc. I doubt if that has changed much since I retired. DoW is relatively anal in these things.
War not going well? Unless this gentleman has his hand on the war plans, he's not in a position to know if the war is going well. DoW will have some specific objectives, order of what to destroy first all the way to last. And just about every military expert has said how well the war is going from our perspective. Heck, we own the sky's, we can do pretty much whatever we want there. If we're moving to civilian infrastructure in our bombings, that tells me that we're pretty satisfied in our position vis a vis military targets.
His point about our missile defense systems, IMO, is off the target. What is being reported is that we have a 90% success rate in knocking their missiles out of the sky. That is a spectacular number. It is accurate that defense against hypersonic missiles is weak..but you can't totally blame trump for that. It would take 5-6 years at a minimum to get through a procurement cycle for a new weapon system. Trump has only been in office, this time, for a year or so.
Being surprised by the strait of Hormuz defense by Iran...I'll give more credence to general (ret) Jack Keane who has stated that even during his service there were numerous plans and war games focused on the strait...now whether those plans have worked out, I don't know.
My final point...while we haven't gotten to this point yet, I don't know how you get the enriched uranium out of iran. As an old infantry officer, it seems to me that you either need troops on the ground to go get it, or some third party mediator has to go get it and store.
I don't know what the author's background is, and he brings up a lot of points. Looking for his background, it doesn't appear as if he has a military background..he's an artist (not that there's anything wrong with that) and a conservative (or that). He's entitled to his opinions.
