On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” CNN Military Analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) stated that the Houthis and Iran react to rhetoric from the Biden administration by saying, “they don’t want it to escalate, well, let’s do it again and make them escalate.” And “as long as the United States is holding back and saying, oh please, don’t do this to us, oh, please, stop, it’s like saying to the bully on the street, oh, please don’t hit me again, he’s going to hit you again.”
Clark said, “I don’t quite understand the purpose of the messaging from the White House. Because, if you don’t want it to escalate, then who are you telling that to? If you tell it to the Houthis and the Iranians, they’re like, oh, they don’t want it to escalate, well, let’s do it again and make them escalate. If you’re addressing the American people or the Congress or Republicans who are accusing you of being a — seeking a war in the Middle East or something, fine, I understand that messaging. But if actually — if you want to stop the escalation, you’re going to have to dominate the cycle of escalation. And in this case what that means is, not only going after the ships that are — little boats that are coming after you, but make a more dramatic move…dominate it by going after the fleet, however many of these little ships there are, wherever they are, I’m sure we know them, take them out. That will stop it. At least it will put the onus of responding back and stop the tit-for-tat. It’ll put the onus back on the Houthis.”
He added, “[W]e’ve signaled very clearly that we don’t want to escalate, okay, so if they wanted to avoid the escalation, they wouldn’t keep doing what they’re doing. So, they must be inviting us to do something, and when we hold back and say, oh, no, no, please don’t make us respond, we’re actually encouraging more strikes, and that’s going to ultimately result in tragedy, I think. So, we have the superior power in the region. We have international law on our side. It’s time to take decisive action.”
Clark concluded, “I think decisive action here is a good way to show Iran that it’s time to stop the tit-for-tat escalation in, for example, south Lebanon. And as long as the United States is holding back and saying, oh please, don’t do this to us, oh, please, stop, it’s like saying to the bully on the street, oh, please don’t hit me again, he’s going to hit you again. So, you have to, at this point — with the Houthis, there’s really no better opportunity than this, take decisive action against the boats.”
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