‘We Just Capitulated’

[TomSea]

‘We Just Capitulated’
The Pentagon’s recently departed Middle East policy chief addresses the administration’s handling of Turkey’s Syria invasion and response to Iranian attacks.
BY LARA SELIGMAN | DECEMBER 20, 2019, 12:29 PM

Michael Mulroy could not have left his position as the U.S. Department of Defense’s Middle East policy chief at a more tumultuous time. Mulroy, a former CIA paramilitary officer, presided over the Trump administration’s Middle East defense policy from October 2017 until Dec. 1, overseeing the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and a spike in tensions with Tehran, the defeat of the Islamic State caliphate, and two announcements—and reversals—of a U.S. drawdown in Syria.

In an interview with Foreign Policy just weeks after his departure, Mulroy addressed the U.S. response to the increased threat from Iran this summer and Turkey’s October invasion of northeastern Syria. Mulroy, who along with most of the Defense Department opposed exiting the nuclear deal, said the response to Tehran’s shootdown of a U.S. military drone in the Strait of Hormuz—an unacknowledged cyberattack instead of the planned kinetic strike—was insufficient to prevent further attacks. 


Michael Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.
Michael Mulroy, former Middle East policy chief for the U.S. Department of Defense. MONICA KING/U.S. ARMY

Mulroy’s business partner Eric Oehlerich, who witnessed the effects of the decision firsthand as the commander of a tactical unit with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (otherwise known as Seal Team 6), stationed in the region, also addressed the muted response to the drone shootdown. He said that without a “red line,” Iran’s malign activities will only increase.

Read more at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/20/michael-mulroy-interview-pentagon-middle-east-iran-syria/

I've got my views. Pretty important article. He has a big problem with the drone Iran shot down.

Interview.

[EdinVA]

The US has demonstrated time and time again since 1945 that it has no will to win, not the troops, the government and the people, and unless/until that changes, we need to keep our noses out of other people business.  Besides, the whole song and dance to justify getting into the drone business was it would be cheap and less risk, aka expendable, so no, lets not go to war over a piece of hardware.