An OpEd by Lt. Col. (Ret.) James Zumwalt
Lt. Col. James Zumwalt is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam War, the 1989 intervention into Panama and Desert Storm. He is a senior analyst for Ravenna Associates and heads a security consulting firm named after his father: Admiral Zumwalt & Consultants, Inc.
If a recent news bombshell is accurate, by the end of this week, the war between Israel and Hamas may well expand into a larger conflict. The battlefield has already been enlarged by the recent declaration of war against Israel by Yemen’s armed forces but a bigger threat possibly looms ahead.
The source of the bombshell is the former Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Donald Trump, Tom Trento. He released an email reporting what was revealed by a source having a close relationship with Iran.
Abdel Bari Atwan is a Palestinian-born British journalist and the editor-in-chief of a London-based pan-Arab world digital news and opinion website. He has demonstrated a willingness to take risks to get a story. In 1996, he dressed in Afghan clothing and traveled through the mountains on what he later described as a “most frightening trip” to interview Osama bin Laden. Doing so, he lived in caves for two days, sleeping in primitive conditions in sub-zero temperatures. He later described bin Laden as “a phenomenon extreme,” also making it clear that Atwan in no way endorsed or supported al-Qaeda’s agenda. He utterly condemned “attacks on innocent citizens in the West.”
That was Atwan’s positive side. However, two days after the Hamas raid into Israel, he revealed a negative one. Praising Iran, he stated:
"It is Iran that provides weapons for the Palestinians. Did these rockets come from the Gulf? Did these drones come from Jordan or Egypt? No. It all came from Iran. The precision-guided rockets came from Iran. The guns came from Iran. The training of the masterminds who planned and engineered this war also came from Iran.”
Lauding the Iranians as “our Muslim brothers” and clearly acknowledging their involvement in the raid while the U.S. has yet to do so, Atwan appears to have a good relationship with the mullahs. That is why the following claim he makes is of particular concern.
Atwan claims the United States was notified by both Hezbollah and Iran that they plan to lead a multi-front war against Israel unless it immediately stops its invasion of Gaza. It is claimed Hezbollah and Iran have given Israel 48 hours to do so. While it is unknown whether this time requirement was communicated privately, it was not included in a similar public warning given by Iran’s foreign minister about opening up new fronts against Israel if the U.S. continued to maintain its unequivocal support for it.
Regardless, if Iran is truly committed to this threat, it demonstrates the mullahs have made a major assessment of the situation, reaching the conclusion that the U.S. has decided the war is Israel’s alone to fight. It means the Iranians have determined the U.S., led by a weak president who has demonstrated no backbone in confronting Tehran, will remain on the sidelines – at most providing Israel with military equipment.
It is imperative now, more so than at any previous time in his presidency, that President Joe Biden demonstrates he does, in fact, possess a backbone. He must advise both, that should they attack Israel, the U.S. will immediately come to Israel’s assistance to checkmate their aggression.
It is disturbing to think, that while we devoted decades attempting to instill democracy in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan that were under the influence of Islamic extremists, we would abandon a democratic state under the same threat. It would send an undeniable message to our enemies that we are surrendering to anti-democratic influences.
Such a threat is somewhat surprising, however, as it shows the willingness of the mullahs to risk all they have gained over the last 44 years after building Iran into a Shiite powerhouse. Whether the threat is real or simply mullah bluster to test the extent of America’s resolve to help Israel remains to be seen.
Biden needs to remind the mullahs that, before they came to power in 1979, they were reduced to riding donkeys as their means of transportation. Should they start a war against Israel, necessitating U.S. involvement, not only will they be risking their asses but any surviving mullahs will be returned to that same mode of transportation.
This is pathologically dangerous and stupid, we should not seek escalation nor another war which we will surely lose. Between Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and now Ukraine don't you think we've had enough losing? Focus on problems that Americans actually care about like urban crime, illegal immigration, and overdoses, stop playing world police.