The Pentagon has reportedly revived an extraordinary option for President Donald Trump: Send thousands of American troops deep into Iran to seize enriched uranium from damaged and buried nuclear facilities, according to a new report.It is being described as a raid.It would be nothing of the sort.This would be a temporary invasion of hostile territory, launched without real surprise, against an enemy that has spent months expecting us, at sites whose defenses and contents remain uncertain.
American troops might seize the objective only to become trapped in a mission with no reliable timetable and no clean exit.TRUMP SEEKS $672M TO STOP IRANIAN NUKES AS NEGOTIATORS WEIGH FATE OF URANIUM STOCKPILESatellite image shows an overview of the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex in Natanz.(Vantor/Handout via REUTERS)The historical parallel is Operation Eagle Claw, the failed 1980 attempt to rescue American hostages in Tehran.
President Jimmy Carter had exhausted diplomacy and sanctions after a hostage crisis that had humiliated the United States for six months, as mounting political pressure pushed him toward a complex rescue operation.It ended at Desert One, where mechanical failures and a collision between a helicopter and a transport aircraft killed eight American servicemen before the rescue force ever reached Tehran.US MILITARY IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO CRUSH ENEMIES, BUT CAN IT DEFEAT THEIR 'FINAL 10%?'Today's military is far more capable, with mature special operations commands and decades of combat experience.But technology does not repeal geography, logistics or enemy action, and a president's need for a decisive result does not make a fragile plan sound.Trump has shown the Carter analogy concerns him.
When asked in June about a uranium-seizure mission, he said he considered it early and rejected it."I didn't want to be Jimmy Carter," he said.President Donald Trump said he did not "want to be Jimmy Carter," when speaking on military operations in Iran.
(Getty Images)The ...