Richard Haass on Iran: Happy Talk Is Not Going To Get Us Through It

EXCERPT:

HAASS: “We can’t surge, which it’s going to take us years, even once we identify shortfalls, to replace these stocks. We have a structural problem in the U.S. Military that’s evolved over decades. And I put this at the responsibility of multiple administrations of both parties. It’s Congress, it’s the contractors and it’s the services. And we have a — we have a crisis in the U.S. Military, so happy talk is not going to get us through it. In the meantime, if you’re Taiwan, if you’re Ukraine, if you’re the Europeans, if you’re the Gulf countries, you watch all this and you go, we’re increasingly on our own. Even if the United States were willing and in many cases were not willing to help them, we’re not capable anymore. We simply don’t have the stuff. So I think for a lot of the world, what they are doing now, Willie, is they are all recalibrating their dependence on the United States. What we’re going to have are allies and partners around the world essentially strike out on their own and find alternatives to dependence on the United States. And some of those we’re not going to like. They could cozy up to enemies. Some of them may think about nuclear weapon. What we're doing is bringing about, in the worst sort of way, a post-American world."