An appeal signed by 20 members of the Eisenhower Media Network, almost all of them American military veterans, to stop “this murderous war of aggression” that “is generating a dynamic that approaches Armageddon.”
The Eisenhower Media Network is an organization of expert former military, intelligence, and civilian national security officials who have an independent, alternative story to tell.
Cross-posted from the Eisnehower Media Network website
Preamble
The U.S./Israeli-led war against Iran is illegal, unconstitutional, immoral, and dangerously escalatory. Protestations to the contrary, Iran posed no imminent threat to U.S. national security. The Trump administration’s policy (announced by Pete Hegseth) of “war without mercy” is both unjust and un-American. In America’s proud ideal of the citizen-soldier, this is not who we are. This war is not America first. This is not what we do.
Put bluntly, this war is not in the national interest of patriotic Americans.
We the undersigned of the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN) oppose this murderous war of aggression and hereby call for an immediate ceasefire followed by negotiation and war reparations to be paid for by the aggressors. This war is wrong and it must end.
A War the United States Should Not Wage
President Donald Trump promised the American people he would end wars, not start them. Yet within months of returning to office, his administration launched military strikes against Iran, igniting a conflict that is quickly spiraling into a regional catastrophe.
The United States is once again marching to an ill-conceived war in the Middle East without clear objectives or a clearly defined, realistic path to victory. Unlike previous (and disastrous) wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this time the American people were not asked to support it. History will be even less kind as it judges the immorality and illegality of this latest war of choice.
The question is not whether the United States can inflict enormous damage on Iran. Of course it can. The real question is whether America can achieve any meaningful result through this war. The answer here is simple: no. There is no reason or cause worth fighting for here.
A War Driven by Israel
Saliently, by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s own admission, the Israeli government drove the timing and initial targets of this war. This isn’t to say that Israel alone is responsible. Since 1979, large parts of the American foreign policy establishment have been eager for war with Iran. Complicit as well is the military-industrial complex, the fossil fuel industry, and the influence of the exiled Iranian lobby.
A shared desire to enforce American hegemony, aligned with Zionist hegemonic goals of a “greater” Israel, is generating a dynamic that approaches that of Armageddon. Even more frightening is that U.S. and Israeli leaders are citing Biblical passages and alleged Judeo-Christian beliefs in support of this war. It seems we are only a few steps away from the madness of the Crusades.
A War Without Public Support or Understanding
Legitimacy is a major issue here. After two decades of costly and ultimately futile conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American public has little appetite for another Middle Eastern war. Polling in the first few days of this war found only one in four Americans supported it.
A large-scale war against Iran would be an act of colossal military and political folly. It may require national mobilization—perhaps even conscription. That is politically impossible. The American people will not support a military draft for yet another open-ended conflict in the region.
No Capacity for Ground War
The active-duty U.S. Army today numbers fewer than 500,000 soldiers. Iran is a nation of roughly ninety million people spread across a mountainous territory roughly four times the size of California. Even if the political will existed, the United States lacks the manpower for a major invasion of Iran.
Conquering and occupying such a country would require hundreds of thousands of ground troops and reliable allies willing to fight alongside them.
Those allies do not exist.
Israel, America’s overbearing partner in this conflict, lacks the manpower to deploy large ground forces to Iran. Gulf States have neither the military capability nor the political willingness to undertake such a war.
Already, America and Israel have lost the moral high ground in this war. They have yet more to lose if this war persists.
Air Power Alone Cannot Win
History shows air power alone has never been enough to win a major war.
During the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur attempted to halt North Korean advances through naval and air power. It failed. Only ground forces ultimately stabilized the front.
In Vietnam, the United States dropped more bombs than were used against Germany and Japan combined during World War II. Yet overwhelming air power could not secure victory.
Technology has improved dramatically since those wars, but the basic nature of war has not changed. Despite decades of talk about a “Revolution in Military Affairs,” wars are still decided by control of territory and the political will of populations.
Bombs alone cannot impose lasting political outcomes. Bombs alone do not spread democracy. However, bombs alone do spread destruction; the conflict began primarily as a destructive and often imprecise air campaign that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocents, which has stiffened the spine of Iranian resistance.
Strategic Exhaustion
America has been engaged in nearly continuous conflict since September 11, 2001. The war in Ukraine, the ongoing U.S.–Israeli destruction of Gaza, and extensive military commitments across the globe have strained American resources.
The U.S. is entering another conflict without being prepared for a long one. Weapons stockpiles are being depleted faster than they can be replenished. Industrial production has not kept pace with demand. Rebuilding the capacity necessary for a prolonged war would take years.
Poor preparation is a recipe for calamitous defeat; meanwhile, the broader the war, the less sustainable it will prove.
Iran Is Ready for This War
Iran, by contrast, has spent decades preparing for precisely this scenario.
Iranian strategy is built around attrition. Rather than trying to match U.S. conventional military power, Iran has invested heavily in asymmetric capabilities—ballistic missiles, drones, cyber warfare, and networks of aligned militias throughout the region.
Instead of seeking decisive battlefield victories, Iran will attempt to impose steady costs on U.S. forces and its allies. U.S. bases across the Middle East, Israeli cities, shipping lanes, and global infrastructure are all potential targets.
Great Power Complications
In an era of great-power competition, regional wars rarely remain isolated. This conflict is happening within a broader geopolitical struggle.
China and Russia have strong incentives to prevent an American-Israeli victory in Iran. Neither wants the U.S. or Israel to dominate the Middle East unchallenged. Both possess advanced missile, radar, and electronic warfare technologies that could assist Iran with intelligence sharing, technological support, and economic backing. Such assistance could significantly complicate U.S. and Israeli operations.
While direct military intervention is unlikely, retaliation for blocking much needed energy supplies to China should be considered. Among other considerations, America remains vulnerable to Chinese restrictions on exports to the U.S. of rare earth minerals and metals. This war may soon dramatically degrade our economy.
The Pattern of American War
There is also a deeper structural problem in the way the United States fights
wars.
In Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, American leaders repeatedly entered conflicts without clearly defined political objectives. Goals shifted as
conditions changed. Military strategies often bore little relationship to achievable political outcomes.
The result was a recurring pattern: enormous expenditures of blood and treasure without success of any measurable kind. Exploding national deficits were among the chief results of exploding U.S. bombs. That, and millions of dead around the world, as planeloads of caskets draped in American flags returned to the homeland.
With its allies, Americans won World War II because we were united and because we knew what we were fighting for. Right made might, as President Abraham Lincoln once said. Our leaders today believe only that might makes right—and they couldn’t be more wrong.
The Iran War risks becoming the next chapter in that same tragic story of wrong.
Military strategy requires harmony between three elements: the political objective, the resources committed, and the methods used to achieve the goal. When those elements are misaligned, failure becomes almost inevitable.
In this war, the objective remains vague, the resources limited, and the strategy uncertain. That makes one thing certain: defeat.
The Danger of Escalation
The greatest danger now is further escalation.
Already there is discussion of deploying U.S. Special Forces inside Iran to support opposition groups. Such missions begin small but often expand rapidly, as they did in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
The moment American troops begin operating on Iranian soil, the risk of a wider and far more destructive war will increase dramatically. So too will the risk of disastrous, Bay of Pigs-like, operations involving U.S. troops and foreign proxies.
A Moment for Congress to Act
Under the Constitution, the authority to declare war belongs to Congress. That responsibility exists precisely to prevent this nation from drifting into
unnecessary and illegal conflicts at the whim of a president enabled and empowered by a misbegotten warrior ethos. America has fought too many wars based on illusions of technological superiority and quick victory. Those illusions have repeatedly collided with reality. And reality always wins over illusion.
A war with Iran will almost certainly follow the same path and continued external attacks will likely strengthen Iran politically. History shows that foreign intervention often unifies societies rather than dividing them.
Congress must now decide whether to continue funding and expanding this disastrous war—$1 billion U.S. per day—or to assert its constitutional role and stop it. The longer the conflict continues, the higher the cost in lives and resources, and the greater the threat to global stability.
Unless American leaders find the spine to stop it, the United States will once again learn that starting a war is easy, but ending one is not. And that fighting a war for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time, with the wrong enemy, is not just foolish, not just indefensible, but a supreme exercise in folly that will deeply harm our country and our prospects as a people.
SIGNERS
Anthony Aguilar, former Ltc. US Army Special Operations Officer, Green Beret
William J. Astore, former Ltc. U.S. Air Force (Ret.)
Michael Baker, former Rear Admiral U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Gregory A. Daddis, former Col. U.S. Army, (Ret.) and West Point professor
Dennis Fritz, former CMD CMSgt U.S. Air Force (Ret.)
Josephine Guilbeau, former U.S. Army All-Source Intel Analyst
Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)
Karen Kwiatkowski, former Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force (ret.), at Office of Secretary of Defense watching the manufacture of lies on Iraq, 2001-2003
Dennis Laich, Director of EMN. former Maj. Gen. U.S. Army, (Ret.) & USA Reserve
Adrian R. Lewis, Professor and former U.S. Army, (Ret.)
Ray McGovern, former U.S. Army infantry/intelligence officer & C.I.A. analyst; C.I.A. Presidential briefer (ret.)
Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council & C.I.A. political analyst (ret.)
John D. Rosenberger, former Col. U.S. Army, (Ret.)
Coleen Rowley, F.B.I. Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)
Christian Sorensen, Assoc. Director of EMN, former U.S. Air Force Arabic linguist
Ted Strickland, EMN Senior Political Advisor and former Ohio Governor
Brett R. Weimer, former Sgt. Maj. U.S. Army, (Ret.)
Lawrence Wilkerson, EMN Senior Advisor, former Col. U.S. Army, (Ret.)
Ann Wright, Col., U.S. Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned in opposition to the war on Iraq)
Mike Young, Ph.D., former Ltc. U.S. Army, (Ret.)
Click here for Expert Fellows’ biographies.
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