The New York Times, "U.S. War Game Sees Perils of Israeli Strike Against Iran": A Calculated Leak

Have you ever participated in war games? The controllers inevitably toss into the pot a lot of worst case scenarios -- a kind of "stress test" -- to examine potential responses and outcomes, but in my experience, they have little semblance to reality. Actual events ultimately evolve in their own fashion.

In a lead article in today's online New York Times, entitled "U.S. War Game Sees Perils of Israeli Strike Against Iran" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/world/middleeast/united-states-war-game-sees-dire-results-of-an-israeli-attack-on-iran.html?_r=1&hp), written by Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker, we are told:

"A classified war simulation held this month to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.

. . . .

The two-week war game, called Internal Look, played out a narrative in which the United States found it was pulled into the conflict after Iranian missiles struck a Navy warship in the Persian Gulf, killing about 200 Americans, according to officials with knowledge of the exercise. The United States then retaliated by carrying out its own strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities."

A "classified" war simulation? Indeed, this story stems from a leak. The "officials" responsible for this leak of classified information? As noted by the article:

"The results of the war game were particularly troubling to Gen. James N. Mattis, who commands all American forces in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia, according to officials who either participated in the Central Command exercise or who were briefed on the results and spoke on condition of anonymity because of its classified nature."

Will the Pentagon now launch an investigation to determine the sources of this leak, i.e. the "officials" who participated in the exercise and those who were subsequently briefed? Probably not. If I had to guess, this was a calculated leak by the Obama administration to its favorite newspaper. The Obama administration does not want to go to war with Iran before November and is engaging in scare tactics to drum up opposition to an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

Enough said.