yourviews Don’t miss the Warrior-Family Symposium Sept. 9. See pages 10 and 118 for details.
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Dealing Iran
with
Too many Americans, growing up without ever having to give anything but taxes to our nation, adopt … a rather self-serving attitude that the freedom and opportunities they enjoy
“
require nothing of them.
—Lt. Cmdr. Noel Holland, USN (Ret) ”
Some would call the nuclear deal responsible diplomacy; others say it’s folly. You decide. 52
Iran Agreement I believe any discussion of the [Joint Com- prehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)] and all other proposed agreements, arrange- ments, deals, and/or understandings with Iran [“Dealing With Iran,” September 2015] should place much greater focus on the dangers that they directly and indirectly create for the U.S., and that the JCPOA directly unleashes these three specifi cally identifi ed dangerous threats to the U.S.: Gives Putin and Russia the free hand they have been seeking to dominate East- ern Europe (Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Georgia), a major position relative to Poland, and further emboldens Putin and the Russian thrust to use Syria as a base for further penetration in the Middle East. Allows Iran to expand the scope and depth of its entire global terror operations, including expanding its currently active penetration and terror networks in Cen- tral and South America. Exposes the East Coast of the U.S. (New York, Washington, and Boston) to the direct threat of a nuclear attack and the entire U.S. to the direct threat of an electromagnetic pulse attack. — Lt. Col. Howard Laitin, USA (Ret) Torrance, Calif.
I suspect that I may not be alone with my uneasiness and uncertainty over the mer- its of [the recent deal reached with Iran over its nuclear program]. Is it worthy of citizen support, as so well explained in a recent letter signed by 36 retired generals and admirals? Or, should we oppose the deal based on various accounts including another letter, this one signed by 190 re- tired fl ag offi cers? After reading the thoughts of the two ex-
perts, I was left with one imperative ques- tion: if not the deal, what does the U.S. do? Peter Rough, the expert who opposes the deal, ends his commentary with, “By draw-
14 MILITARY OFFICER NOVEMBER 2015
ing on coercive powers, we should compel Iran into a fundamental choice: either your nuclear infrastructure or your economy, but you cannot have both.” While Rough’s sentiment suggests that a strong and deci- sive course of action exists, he omits details of what that coercive action would be. Fur- ther, is the U.S. left to be the sole enforcer of “no nukes for Iran”? Are we ready for yet another unprovoked war? Some say no deal is better than the deal
worked out. That might well be true if our partners in the sanctions were to stay on board, but recent events have demonstrated that is not happening. Uneasiness and the opinions of numerous distinguished retired fl ag offi cers aside, I reluctantly support the current Iran nuclear deal, and I urge Con- gress to cease its eff orts to derail it. — Col. Ross L. Meyer, USAF (Ret) via email
Service, Not Slavery [Capt. Michael N. Lewis, USN (Ret), “Na- tional Service,” Your Views, September 2015] sums up precisely and eloquently the compelling rationale for compulsory na- tional service. Too many Americans, grow- ing up without ever having to give anything but taxes to our nation, adopt — under- standably — a rather self-serving attitude that the freedom and opportunities they enjoy require nothing of them. It is a selfi sh, though far too prevalent, attitude. As to [Lt. Cmdr. John S. Baltutis, USN
(Ret)’s] opposite view — well, all I can say is that I had never before realized that na- tional service in whatever form was slavery and that Attila, Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam were “progressives.” — Lt. Cmdr. Noel Holland, USN (Ret) Life Member via email
It was an interesting response by Lt. Cmdr. John S. Baltutis, USN (Ret), to the article
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