Hegseth, a former infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, said past attempts at nation-building were “stupid” and the mission to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons would be “definitive.”
Hegseth says on Iran: ‘This is not Iraq. This is not endless.
Army Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation against Iran is not “open-ended” like it is in Iraq.
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the goal of the war against Iran is to destroy its missile, naval and nuclear programs, not to embark on a 20-year “utopian” nation-building effort like the United States attempted in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This is not Iraq. This is open-ended,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon on March 2. “Our generation knows better.”
President Donald Trump was running a campaign against U.S. military missions in Afghanistan and Iraq that continued decades after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. During a presidential debate in February 2016, Trump said the Iraq war was a “big mistake” justified by weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist. President Trump said the United States spent trillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan and had nothing to show for it.
“Our ambition is not a utopia,” Hegseth said in contrast on March 2.
Mr. Hegseth, 45, a former infantry officer in the Army National Guard who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said President Trump would be wiser than pursuing endless military action in the Middle East.
“He called the nation-building wars of the past 20 years stupid, and he’s right,” Hegseth said. “This is the opposite. This mission is clear, destructive and decisive. Destroy the missile threat. Destroy the navy. No nuclear weapons.”
Hegseth said there are no U.S. troops in Iran, but said that does not indicate future U.S. strategy.
“No, but we’re not going to decide what we will or won’t do,” Hegseth said. “That’s foolish. We’re going to go as far as we need to go.”
Hegseth said the military can accomplish President Trump’s objectives without a long-term commitment.
“You don’t have to get 200,000 people there and stay for 20 years. We’ve proven that you can accomplish goals that advance American interests without doing anything stupid.”
A major U.S.-Iranian attack on Iran that began on February 28 killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and numerous other senior officials.
