On the 30th anniversary of the ill-fated Soviet invasion of Afghanistan another lesson in armchair military sophistry graces the op-ed pages of the New York Times. This time around it’s not Benny Morris who is calling for military aggression against Iran to stop its nuclear program but another armchair general from the academy, Alan Kuperman. In his editorial titled “There’s Only One Way to Stop Iran”, Kuperman yells “Charge!” from the safety of his office at the University of Texas, Austin.
More macho chest thumping follows as Kuperman writes that U.S. air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities would “remind Iran of the many other valuable sites that could be bombed if it were foolish enough to retaliate.” Here Kuperman’s recipe for success might require nothing short of the systematic, prolonged, and savage bombardment of a nation of 70 million people.
Kuperman never mentions the potential cost in civilian deaths in Iran stemming from such an assault that might anger the population. The air strikes Kuperman fantasizes about are so surgical and precise they won’t even skin the knee of an Iranian child.
