Sullivan reprimands general for weighing risks of escalation with Iran

In his latest harangue calling for the Biden administration to use more military force directly against Iran, Sen. Dan Sullivan quoted a Tom Friedman column from January 25 about how Iran is not paying a price for the actions of its proxies.

Friedman, a New York Times columnist, has an excellent grasp of the complexity and the danger in that part of the world.

His columns reflect these qualities and do not promise the simple military solutions that Sullivan invariably demands.

“Iran is reaping all the benefits and paying virtually no cost for the work of its proxies, and the U.S., Israel and their tacit Arab allies have not yet manifested the will or the way to pressure Iran back,” Sullivan quoted Friedman as saying in a Senate hearing Thursday.

Sullivan asked Gen. Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, if he agreed with Friedman’s statement.

But Sullivan left out the last 12 words of the sentence from Friedman’s column, distorting the picture entirely.

What Friedman actually wrote was this:

“Iran is reaping all the benefits and paying virtually no cost for the work of its proxies, and the U.S., Israel and their tacit Arab allies have not yet manifested the will or the way to pressure Iran back—without getting into a hot war, which they all want to avoid.”

Without getting into a hot war, which they all want to avoid.

That Sullivan ignored the not-so-subtle imperative to avoid a catastrophic war is indicative of his predictable view that every problem has a military solution. Warlike rhetoric is his way to show toughness, never admitting that sinking Iranian spy ships might not be the magic bullet he claims.

Then Sullivan reprimanded Kurilla for mentioning that all options to respond to Iran have to include weighing the dangers of escalation.

“We always talk the risk of escalation. The Iranians are escalating on us. We have it backwards,” said Sullivan.

“It’s not useful when you guys start by saying ‘the risk of escalation.’” Sullivan told Kurilla. “The Iranians are killing our service members. They’re escalating. Hamas is escalating. I think we need to drop that talking point.”

Sullivan would do well to read all of Friedman’s columns. And rethink his reckless claims about there being no need to worry about the risks of escalation.

Friedman wrote another column this week about the shadow war with Iran, calling it the most dangerous game of chicken anywhere on the planet.

“On Feb. 2, the U.S. launched airstrikes against the whole Iranian proxy network in Iraq and Syria, and the next day against Houthi sites in Yemen, hitting more than 100 targets overall, with a combination of long-range B-1 bombers out of Texas, and cruise missiles and fighter bombers launched from the Eisenhower carrier group in the Red Sea. Some 40 people were reported to have been killed in the U.S. retaliatory strikes,” Friedman wrote.

“The operation was then capped off on Feb. 7 when the U.S. decided to demonstrate to Iran and its proxies what kind of combined intelligence/precision warfare the U.S. can deploy by killing Abu Baqir al-Saedi, the specific commander from Kataib Hezbollah who the U.S. determined was in charge of drone attacks on its bases in Iraq, Jordan and Syria.”

There are efforts by U.S. forces we need to know about, Friedman said, recounting details of his visit to the area last week.

“At every base we visited there was a top-secret room journalists could not go into, called the combat integration center. Inside, young American soldiers (and sailors on Navy vessels) stare at screens, try to identify the myriad objects flying toward them and decide by its radar and visual signature whether to engage one, ignore another or let a third go by, figuring it is going to miss and land harmlessly. Discipline is important when you’re firing $200,000 interceptors at $20,000 Iranian drones, a Centcom officer told me.”

The columnist concluded:

“The best case for U.S. forces remaining in eastern Syria, Iraq and the Red Sea is precisely so that the disorder ‘over there’ — from the likes of ISIS, failed states like Syria and the eating away of nation-states by Iranian proxy militias — doesn’t come “over here.

“It is not a pretty or heroic mission — living in body armor all day in a harsh and hostile environment, with all the corn dogs you can eat as one of the few pleasures — but it’s probably worth it. That said, we should have no illusions about the risks because the shadow war playing out there could come screaming out of the shadows at any moment,” he said.

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