Ray Tanter, counterterrorism specialist, told attendees at AFA’s annual Air & Space Conference Sept. 25 that he has an option for dealing with Iran that avoided both fruitless diplomatic negotiations and a military air strike alternative. He argued that the Washington has made numerous diplomatic concessions, but there has been no diplomatic reciprocity by Tehran. And, Tanter said that although airmen would salute and say they could perform air strikes, air strikes would not work. Instead, he proposes effecting a regime change in Iran by “empowering the people,” by way of supporting the two main Iranian opposition groups, the National Council of Resistance to Iran, and the Mujahadeen el Khalq. Tanter acknowledged that his idea meets with stiff opposition from Washington, but he remains convinced that this is a viable alternative.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…