No Matter Which Hawks Win, America Loses

Some Iran hawks are unhappy with the Colby nomination because Colby is not so trigger-happy and aggressive when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program.

The hawks in the GOP are fighting with each other over Elbridge Colby’s nomination to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy:

An internal GOP schism over President Trump’s nomination of Elbridge Colby to serve as the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy is spilling out into the public, prompting an intervention from Vice President JD Vance.

Colby, 45, an alumnus of the first administration, has been a proponent of shifting US military focus away from the Middle East and toward China. But his history of suggesting that Iran obtaining nuclear weapons shouldn’t be a red line for the US has rattled some GOP lawmakers.

Some Iran hawks are unhappy with the Colby nomination because Colby is not so trigger-happy and aggressive when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program. He has made the defensible point that the U.S. could live with a nuclear-armed Iran if it came to that. The fact that he thinks containment and deterrence would work with Iran is a ridiculous reason to oppose his nomination. It is Colby’s superhawkishness on China that should be under closer scrutiny, and that is what should be alarming senators, but of course he gets a pass for all that. No matter which hawkish faction wins this fight, America is sure to be the loser.