U.S. and Kuwaiti troops unite to close the gate between Kuwait and Iraq after the last military convoys passed through, Dec. 18, 2011, signaling the end of Operation New Dawn. U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Jordan Johnson
We Shall Return -- Richard L. Russell, Foreign Policy
Don't be too sure there won't be another U.S. war in the Middle East.
Shortly before he left office in February 2011, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told West Point cadets that "in my opinion, any future defense secretary who advised the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,' as General MacArthur so delicately put it." The remark no doubt reflected Secretary Gates's fatigue and frustration from the enormous intellectual and emotional burdens associated with overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One suspects, however, that in a more reflective moment, Gates would have acknowledged that "never say never" is a wise rule of thumb in planning for military contingencies, especially in the region that makes up Central Command's area of responsibility. Few, for example, predicted the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Gates himself -- who was a senior CIA official during the covert war supporting the Afghan resistance -- surely did not anticipate then that the United States would have to return to Afghanistan two decades later to oust a Taliban regime that was harboring terrorists. Before 1990, moreover, no one predicted that Iraq, having just ended a bitter eight-year war with Iran, would swing its battered forces south to invade Kuwait.
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My Comment: Because of our addiction (and need) for oil, our focus will always be on the Middle East. If Iran or anyone else wants to disrupt that flow .... expect U.S. forces back on the ground (and in force) very quickly.
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