People should not “overlearn” from mistakes made with past foreign interventions, the US vice president has cautioned
A potential new American military strike on Iran would not drag the country into another prolonged foreign conflict, US Vice President J.D. Vance has said.
Washington has amassed a military force in the Middle East unseen since before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and is demanding that Tehran make concessions on its uranium enrichment and ballistic missile programs.
In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, Vance addressed concerns regarding another protracted ‘forever war’. “The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight – there is no chance that will happen,” he said, describing himself as a “skeptic of foreign military interventions.”
Vance, however, also cautioned against excessive reluctance to use military force.
“I do think we have to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. I also think that we have to avoid overlearning the lessons of the past,” he said. “Just because one president screwed up a military conflict doesn’t mean we can never engage in military conflict again.”
Last year, the US intervened militarily in Iran, taking Israel’s side after the IDF struck the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites. It defended its ally from retaliation and ultimately struck difficult-to-reach targets on Iranian soil.
Opponents of a potential new attack argue that it would serve Israeli, not American, interests, and that the two should not be conflated. Prominent critic Tucker Carlson confronted US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on the issue in a recent interview.
Huckabee stated that Israel has a biblical right to land it currently holds and beyond, adding that “it would be fine if they took it all.” The remark, referencing territory described as “from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates” in Genesis, drew condemnation from Arab nations and their supporters. The Arab League called the statement “extremist and lacking any sound basis.”
Vance said he had not watched the full interview but gathered from clips that “it’s a really good conversation that’s going to be necessary” among US conservatives.
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