Donald Trump’s RO1 Grant Application For War With Iran: What Are The Specific Aims?
By
Leonard Zwelling
It’s been quite a while since I wrote a grant application to the NIH. I am sure that the application process has changed. However, I suspect that the applicant still has to be clear about what he or she is trying to accomplish with the requested funds. What are the specific aims of the project?
In the case of Donald Trump’s latest project, the background is known. The preliminary data were accrued last June when the United States and Israel supposedly “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear program aimed at developing atomic weapons as well as destroyed the missile systems that might be used to deliver such weapons. It was a good experiment that appeared to have worked temporarily giving good preliminary results. But, alas, the results did not hold up to further review.
The latest experiment by the United States and Israel attempts to completely abolish Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities, kill most of the political and military leadership, and cripple the country leading to a populist revolution and “regime change.” At least someone from the Trump Administration has said one or more of these things sometime in the last two weeks. This suggests that the first experiment yielded only a partial remission.
So, now Trump and company are back. What are the specific aims of the new experiments?
Trump said he wanted “regime change,” but his pseudo-macho Secretary of War said otherwise. I believe that the American people, who are being asked to sacrifice their tax dollar treasure and possibly the blood of their children, ought to know what the goals of such an operation are. As of now, the goals of this massive use of force are most unclear. What is the end game? What must be achieved from the air and sea that obviates the need for ground troops, negates Iran’s offensive capabilities, and destabilizes the country politically?
So, let’s propose a few potential specific aims and suggest what the PLAN is to attain these goals.
- Eliminate any chance that Iran can develop a nuclear weapon. This will necessitate deep bombing again as was done in June and then be followed up with inspections on the ground to make sure the Iranian government, whatever it will be, does not start enriching uranium, again.
- Eliminate the development of missile delivery systems that endanger Israel, the entire Middle East, Europe, and eventually North America. Again, it will take more bombing and follow-up inspections.
- Bring down the Islamic state. Killing the 86-year-old ayatollah does not do that. I am quite sure that there are stables of young ayatollahs-in-waiting who would gladly step up to the plate to fight the “American devil” and those Jews. To end the reign of these leaders will require a ground assault, combat with the Republican Guard, and then the nurturing of some alternative kind of government. This will be a challenge because the population of Iran is not uniform and contains minority groups that would love to break free of the Islamic state (e.g., the Kurds).
- Finally, let’s say Trump (and surely China and Russia) want to keep Iran intact. That will really be hard as there are many minorities like the Kurds who would love to break off a piece of the country for their own government. To keep Iran whole may be the greatest challenge of all.
The U.S. Constitution makes it quite clear that the power to declare war (Article 1, Section 8:11) rests with Congress (the study section?). If our elected representatives will not do their job and at least debate the wisdom of the president’s recent actions and, if they disagree with it, withhold the funding of the military for the war, then our Constitution may have no meaning.
It should be obvious, even at this early state in the war, Mr. Trump has not set clear parameters of success and has not justified the war to the American people despite having had the perfect forum for that at the State of the Union Address.
I do not see the end game in this aggression by Israel and the United States. For Israel, a short-term success is enough. They don’t mind “mowing the lawn” every few years to peel back a growing threat as they do in the West Bank on a regular basis. For the U.S. this is quite different., There was no eminent threat to the homeland from Iran of which we are aware. If there are sleeper cells here, we will now know shortly.
The people of the United States, like the NIH in the grant process, need to know the specific aims and expected outcomes of this adventurism for which they are being asked to sacrifice blood and treasure.
We, The People, (or our elected representatives) are supposed to be the study section. When is the Zoom meeting with us? Mark your score sheets.
