America's big Iran war dilemma: Put boots on the ground or not?

It's unclear how US President Trump can end hostilities without throwing West Asia into chaos

- NITIN PAI

Now that the United States has entered Israel's war against Iran by bombing Iranian nuclear installations, the future will hinge on their ability and willingness to put boots on the ground.

There is little doubt that Iran's ruling clerics have not only been defeated, but also shown up to be incompetent. They caused Iran to suffer the pain of US sanctions for over two decades but Iran is nowhere close to a nuclear bomb. The regime's approach of using terrorist, sub-conventional and state proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria has come undone. Iranian missiles and drones have caused some damage in Israel but not enough to deter Tel Aviv from stepping up its attacks.

That, however, does not mean that the US and Israel can achieve their political objective of eliminating Iran as a threat to their interests. Indeed, since 1990—in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Yemen—the US was able to pummel its targets using massive air power and dislodge incumbent regimes, but could not establish its desired political order. Deploying ground troops did not work either. The US committed thousands of troops and billions of dollars to its war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to be forced into ignominious withdrawals, leaving these countries in the hands of even more unsavory regimes than the ones it toppled. Little wonder that public opinion in the US is strongly against fighting 'forever wars' in far-flung regions.