Washington, DC –
“This
was an act of war,” said Rep. Peter King (R-NY),
Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee at a hearing on how the U.S. should respond
to the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.
Panelists recommended a dramatic
escalation of U.S. actions against Iran.
“You don't want to run away
from that war, you want to run towards it," said
Reul Marc Gerecht of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Gerecht, a former CIA agent who has been an
long-time supporter of war with Iran, advised that the U.S. tell the world, “we
are more willing to have another front on the war on terror.”
“Let’s
not wring our hands,” said
General Jack Keane (Ret.). “If
the international community doesn’t
want to step up to it, we go without ‘em.”
Keane, a chief architect of the Bush
Administration's Iraq "surge" in 2007, told the Congressional panel, “We’ve
got to put our hand around their throat right now.”
He called for the U.S. to begin
killing or capturing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
and Quds Force, including its leader Qasem Sulemani.
“Why don’t
we kill them?” he asked.
