In today’s Friday interview the John Locke Foundation’s Mitch Kokai discusses the War on Terror with retired Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, senior Fox News military analyst and co-author of the book Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory on the War on Terror. The interview aired on Carolina Journal Radio (click here to find the station near you).
Kokai: Thanks for joining us today, Gen. McInerney. I guess the obvious question is: How is the War on Terror going?
McInerney: Well, first of all we are winning. Is it a tough fight? Yes, it’s a tough fight. But America must know we are winning. And we have a forward strategy over there. We are in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of our forward strategy, and that is to change the region so the Islamic extremists which we are fighting — and people must understand Islamic extremists; we are fighting an ideology. It’s not a religion. They have got to be able to understand the difference. They have hijacked the religion. It’s an ideology just like Nazism, communism or fascism. And we defeated Nazism and fascism in World War II with forces forward in, eventually, Japan and Germany. We defeated communism in the Cold War for 40-plus years. We had over 500,000 troops. In each case we let moderates take over, get rid of the extremists, and the moderates rose up and created a democratic government that they now have over there and have been so successful. Same model in the Middle East.
Kokai: You recently offered an update to a luncheon crowd in Wilmington and put things in perspective that there were a certain number of terrorists or rogue nations, nations that support terrorism. Now there are fewer of them.
McInerney: That’s correct. We call it — General Vallely and I, who co-authored Endgame — we call it a web of terror. There were eight on 9/11. That included Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. We have changed regimes in the first two; Libya took an off-ramp and gave us a treasure trove of information. We now have Iran that is looming in front of us. We have Syria, we have Saudi Arabia. We have Pakistan and North Korea. So, fundamentally, we have worked three of the eight. We are now working the fourth, so we are halfway through. I believe that we will have to change the regime in Iran. We are going through what I call a diplomatic kabuki dance right now in the UN. But people must understand that in the UN, Russia and China are our enemies. They are not allies. They have a different objective for Iran. And that is why I believe we have to form a coalition of the willing. But they will go through this kabuki dance to see if the UN can work. Unfortunately I am going to predict that it will not work and that we will have a coalition of the willing and we will have to do what we did in Iraq, but I would do it a different way.
Kokai: And speaking of that different way, you recently in the Weekly Standard spelled out some of the things that the United States could do with this coalition of the willing to help end any threat of nuclear weapons from Iran.
McInerney: Yes, here is what I would do. And you got the operative words — nuclear weapons from Iran. That is a red line we cannot let them cross, and the reason is because they will end up in the United States, they’ll end up in Israel, and perhaps Western Europe. What my campaign is going through diplomatically — because please understand, Mitch, I want to solve this diplomatically — but I’m also pragmatic. Appeasement is not solving it diplomatically. We found that out in World War II with Hitler. Once we go through and form a coalition of the willing, which I believe will happen when we recognize that the UN Security Council, Russia and China, will block any initiatives to do anything against Iran, I would form a coalition of the willing, and these are some of the suggested countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey, some of the European nations, the EU3 — France, Germany and the United Kingdom — and maybe some other countries. And you tell them, “Look, we want to solve this diplomatically, and we need your help.” So, you have a Muslim face with it and people that clearly do not want Iran to have hegemony over the region. And we’ll work with you. You tell us what you think, how we can solve it diplomatically, but once we have exhausted that, then we must have a military option. My military option is one of many, but it is predominately airpower using Air Force and Naval assets. I have 65 stealth aircraft: the B-2s, the F-22s, and the 117s. I have 500 cruise missiles. I have 400 non-stealth aircraft. And what I do in 36 hours — I hit 1,500 aim points. And what that means is, I’m going to take out as much of the nuclear development facilities as I can take out. I’m going to take out his navy. I’m going to take out his air defense, which I have to do to do anything. I’m going to take out his air force, so he can’t retaliate and his Shahab-3; those are his intercontinental ballistic missiles that can attack Israel as well as Europe. In addition, I will take out his command and control, so his leadership cannot control any resistance. Here’s the big part now. Through covert action, we help Iranian people to take their country back. This is a lot more complicated. It’s a covert campaign. And we let the Iranian people retake the country back from the Mullahs.
Kokai: As we put Iran in a larger perspective, what does the U.S. need to do in general, moving forward with this war on terror, to ensure we win?
McInerney: I believe that we have to make sure that Iran does not develop the weapons. I believe we need to re-establish as best we can a coalition of the willing — try the UN, but that will not work. I believe we have to take a leadership role. I see France coming in this now. I see England, although they have said they did not think a military option was credible. I think they will eventually get there. And of course Germany — Mrs. Merkel, Chancellor Merkel. And so, we need to re-establish the transatlantic alliance and let everybody know there is an endgame, and what the endgame is and why it is. And if we get consensus on that, then I believe we can do it. Again, I’d like not to have to do it, but I don’t think we’re going to be given an option.
Kokai: As we wrap up in looking at this war on terror, the United States can’t just cut and run and decide that there is no longer a war on terror, can it?
McInerney: No. Cut and run is not a forward strategy. Cut and run does not defeat ideologies. As I’ve said, you defeat an ideology, which we are fighting against, [by] being forward, enabling moderates to grow up and take over. Cut and run abandons that, and how they get away with this cut and run strategy, it amazes me, because it doesn’t do anything. Defending ports and airports and banks and shopping malls of the United States does not defeat an ideology. You have to defeat it forward. And, frankly, we’re winning. We are winning.