The United States, alongside coalition allies like the UK and , established two no-fly zones in Iraq in the 1990s after the first Gulf War that followed Iraqs invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which remained in place until the major combat operations in Iraq ended after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The northern “no-fly” zone was established in April, 1991. The southern no-fly zone was established in August, 1992. The northern zone was designed to protect Iraqi Kurds from more retribution from Saddam Hussein. The southern zone was established to protect the Shia populations there that Saddam had massacred after his massive defeat at the hands of the “Coalition of the Willing” in the “100 Hours” campaign to expel Saddam s forces from Kuwait. Those two operations were low intensity conflicts and carried on for years. Its time to reprise that sort of operation.
The is an international waterway, protected by customary law of the sea for as long as humankind has voyaged, though never without peril from pirates or, since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. While the Iranian navys capital ships have been sunk, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (“IRGC”) continues to menace shipping in the Strait via mines, drones and missiles, both short range and longer range.
The U.S. and its allies can and should recommence . The rump regime(s) in control of the IRGC or parts of it need to be shattered to an even greater level of destruction as they do not yet understand the depth of their defeat, or in fact relish martyrdom which we should oblige. Their guns and missiles can be silenced. The sooner that President Trump orders that done the better.
After , they should be followed by a “no fire” zone extending back at least a hundred miles from the coast of the Strait. That distance allows for sustainable defense against most if not all of Irans remaining arsenal. If firing continues, the allies shall have to insist on a “no movement” zone in the same area. The Strait is of too much importance to the global economy and all nations to allow a pirate regime that cannot exercise command and control of its armed forces to be close to the shore.
The “no fire/no movement” zone will require ongoing U.S. operations for some time and will also provide the NATO endures as a useful alliance. Failure to take up its share of the policing of the Strait is simply to stick the U.S. with the tab.
If and when that happens, â 80 plus years after the end of World War II and 30 plus years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union â will need to pay its own way if taking care of international waterways becomes a U.S.-only burden. We can shoulder that burden alone as well as deterrence of China in the Pacific.
If obliged to do that without European help (and not just token help) it will be time to serve notice on the Atlantic Alliance that its sugar daddy days are done. Im not the only Reagan conservative to feel this way. Europe has changed, not the U.S., and America must take care of itself first, not a wealthy but washed-out Euro-elite that seems to believe it is owed our protection regardless of their feckless defense policies and repulsive neutrality in the conflict with Iran.
This is a hinge moment for the West. Dont be surprised if our in the Gulf, like “the Quad” in the Pacific, take the front and perhaps only seats at the table with the United States.
Ingratitude burns. Europes scalds, especially after not once or twice, but three times having to save the continent from dictators bent on destroying the freedoms of the people living west of . Its not written in the ages that the “new world” must always come to the defense of the old, especially when the old can fully well pay its own way.
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show” heard
