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Trump's De-risking Strategy in the Iran War
(19FortyFive) Lt.-Col. (ret.) Dr. James Jay Carafano - The president has adopted a military strategy that can persist as long as he wants, with little likelihood of getting pulled into a quagmire (see Vietnam) or suckered into a humiliating retreat (recall Afghanistan). The president is not just throwing bombs, and then more bombs until the Iranians quit. Nor will he expand the war with a massive influx of ground troops. Trump's strategy is not escalation dominance; rather, he is de-risking - every time the Iranians fail to meet their obligations or retaliate, he takes more capabilities and assets of Iran off the table. Every day the U.S. pounds Iranian targets adds month and years to the timeline it would take them to be the threat they were just a year ago. The IRGC should not bet on the mid-terms as a political constraint on the president. It is clear he will not sacrifice strategic objectives for short-term political impact. The writer is vice president of the Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation.