To the editor: Noting that “nobody is proposing ‘boots on the bottom’” to keep away from the “Iraq syndrome” to defeat Iran’s nuclear risk, columnist Jonah Goldberg ignores the plausibility that boots often is the solely certain different (“Is bombing Iran deja vu once more?,” June 24). Absent an Iranian epiphany to rid itself of the nuclear enterprise — South Africa being the only real historic instance of a rustic that constructed and dismantled its personal nuclear program — or the lack to rebuild following assault (Israel’s 2007 bombing of Syria’s Al Kibar weapons reactor being a working example), what’s the choice?
Two examples help boots on the bottom. First, Nazi Germany. It was the Might 1945 defeat by Allied forces that eradicated the scary however struggling effort. Then, Iraq 2002-03. After Israel’s 1981 bombing of the Osirak reactor, Baghdad constructed a secret weapons enrichment program. Solely the insertion of worldwide inspectors eradicated this system.
An answer with boots on the bottom is a nonstarter for a Washington singed by the Iraq syndrome coupled with an incapable Jerusalem. The default leaves Israel and the U.S. making use of periodic air assaults to maintain Iran’s nuclear effort in disarray, hoping regime collapse with a roll-up of the nuclear program follows.
Bennett Ramberg, Los Angeles
This author was a international affairs officer within the State Division Bureau of Political-Army Affairs within the George H.W. Bush administration.
