April 10, 2017
We Are Now Part of This War
In March 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, then–Maj. Gen. David Petraeus turned to embedded reporter Linda Robinson and famously asked: “Tell me how this ends.”
That question has never fully been answered in Iraq, despite the expenditure of huge sums of American blood and treasure. And yet, it’s the right question to ask of any military endeavor, because it links current operations to a desired future objective, lest all that blood and treasure be wasted for war’s own sake.
The same question ought to be asked now, the day after President Donald Trump ordered cruise missiles to strike a Syrian airfield in response to the brutal killing of Syrian civilians with chemical weapons two days earlier. What comes next, and how this ultimately ends, depends on what military steps come next—by the United States, as well as the Russians, Syrians, Iranians, and others active in the region. Moreover, Thursday’s strike complicates nearly everything we are now doing in Syria, potentially setting in motion a chain reaction of conflict whose end is difficult to foresee or control.
Read the full article at Slate.
More from CNAS
-
Iran is trying to score a political win against the US: Expert
Video
By "isolating" the U.S. from the other countries in the nuclear deal, Iran is winning politically but losing economically, says Ilan Goldenberg of Center for a New American Se...
By Ilan Goldenberg
-
Sanctions Alone Won’t Alter Iran’s Behavior in the Middle East
Commentary
The U.S. Treasury Department recently designated a network of 22 Iranian businesses as supporters of terrorism, including several banks and major commodities companies, imposi...
By Kaleigh Thomas
-
Jamal Khashoggi’s Murder Hurt American Interests, Not Just American Values
Commentary
Most observers have seen the murder of Jamal Khashoggi as the latest example of an age-old tension in U.S. foreign policy: the pursuit of national interests versus the defense...
By Richard Fontaine
-
Ilan Goldenberg on Israel Policy Forum Podcast
Podcast
Ilan Goldenberg, Israel Policy Forum's Policy Adviser and a Senior Fellow and Director at the Center for a New American Security's Middle East Security Program joins Evan Gott...
By Ilan Goldenberg
