Among other news outlets, The New York Post is describing a complicated military operation in which thousands of ground troops would secure and defend a large area from attack. With that perimeter in place, special operations troops would dig into the nuclear facilities to retrieve and transport the nuclear materials.
In the Post story, a former White House Security Council member posed the question: How long can U.S. forces fight Iran’s military until the uranium is retrieved and the mission is completed?
That proposed mission is also complicated by the fact there is no element of surprise, which is typical for quick military raids. There is also the fact Iran has been preparing for a U.S. military raid by hardening defenses with mines and booby traps, military experts said.
Military analyst Robert Maginnis told American Family News he has studied the Pentagon plan and came away concerned over U.S. casualties.
“It's an incredibly complex, hard-to-execute plan,” Maginnis, who compares it to President Carter’s ill-fated military operation in 1980, told AFN.
An alternative plan, without ground troops and casualties, Maginnis said, is to close off the entrances to the mountain facilities with air attacks, then observe any activity and neutralize it.
In a related Fox News opinion article, Maginnis stressed the operation is much more complicated than “Operation Eagle Claw” in 1980. Like the Post story, he also said the element of surprise is non-existent because the targets are known to the Iranians.
“I'm just very skeptical that this can be pulled off without significant loss of life on our part,” Maginnis told AFN.
Even worse than the U.S. casualties, he stressed, is the possibility that evacuating the enriched uranium – the purpose of sustaining those casualties – could fail completely.
A related Fox News poll found 56% oppose military action against Iran versus 43% who support it. The poll, conducted July 17-20, also found 66% disapprove of President Trump's handling of the war while 34% approve it.
