Israel's defense minister Katz said today that an Iranian attack would free Israel from all constraints, that it would strike all infrastructure including energy, and return Iran to the Stone Age.
Netanyahu added that removing the regime is the central mission and within reach.
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson's response was a question rather than an alarm. Israel's conventional capacity to do that kind of damage to Iran is limited, especially after everything already thrown at it.
So how exactly would Israel deliver on that threat?
In his view there is only one way.
He is not asserting it will happen. He is saying the guardrails he grew up with are gone. Inside the Pentagon's orbit, people like Colby are reportedly asking why weapons exist if they can't be used.
Presented with the full case for why a nuclear strike would be self-defeating:
Trump's legacy gone, the midterms lost, treasuries boycotted, no military gain in a country Iran's size, Israel isolated and facing an unprecedented barrage... his answer was one line.
All of that is logical, coherent, and makes sense. And what about either of these administrations has been logical?
His worry about the American side is structural.
No Senate-confirmed 4-star running the army, no army secretary, and recruiting standards bent to pull in soldiers who failed the entrance test and were then coached through it.
One in 10, by his count. McNamara's 100,000, repeated.
