Scott Ritter and Colonel McGregor have been saying much the same thing too on their podcasts.
This subject was, of course raised in the 21 March session with the C's who suggested such a landing could turn into a quagmire for the US forces:
(Beau) Will there be a ground invasion of Iran by the U.S.?
A: Will be attempted. But it will be more like a tar baby.
(L) You know what a tar baby is? Everybody know what a tar baby is? Well, there's a set of stories from the Deep South. And the Cassiopaeans are obviously Southerners. [laughter] And I think there's the “Tales of Uncle Remus”, and he would tell about these animals. And there was Br'er Rabbit, Br'er is an abbreviation that means brother, Br'er Rabbit. And then there's Br'er Fox. And Br'er Fox is always after Br'er Rabbit, because the fox wants to get the rabbit.
(Scottie) I just love that story! [laughter]
(L) Br'er Rabbit gets stuck in the Tar Baby. "And he becomes more and more stuck as the tar clings to him. The more he struggles, the deeper he gets entangled. Br'er Fox emerges laughing, thinking he's won, until Br'er Rabbit cleverly tricks him into throwing him into a briar patch, allowing escape. So it's a classic trickster tale, emphasizing wit over brute force." Yes, very cunning rabbit. And everybody knows what tar is, I hope. Or has had some experience with it.
(Joe) It's quite appropriate, it's a petroleum product. [laughter]
(L) Yeah, it's a petroleum product. But anyhow, the rabbit gets stuck in the tar baby and he can't let go. So that's pretty self-explanatory. If the U.S. get in there...
(Joe) I mean, it's been announced that they have X number of thousand troops making their way. They'll be there in two or three weeks, whatever. They're probably going to try and take some of those islands and they'll maybe land on the southern coast of Iran or something. But the problem with that is once they start getting killed, to whatever extent, then they're stuck. It becomes a quagmire, basically. Especially with Trump. US soldiers get killed, then it's like you can't just turn and run away. Because you look like you've been...
(L) So a quagmire is the same thing as a tar baby.
(Joe) You put more troops in and then it eventually becomes a... Middle East quagmire that Trump said they'd never get involved in...
In many ways, what the US are considering today reminds me of the disastrous
Gallipoli Campaign commencing in March 1915 during the First World War, a project dreamt up by then British First Sea Lord
Winston Churchill. It was a very ambitious plan by which a powerful combined British and French fleet would force a passage through the Dardanelle Straits so that large numbers of allied troops could then be landed at the Russian Black Sea ports to bolster Russians forces in their conflict with Turkish, German and Austrian forces on what was the War's Eastern Front, with the additional aim of knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the War. It was a daring plan that relied on overwhelming sea power to overcome the Turkish forts and gun emplacements guarding the narrow straits (much more narrow in places than the Straits of Hormuz).
The combined British and French fleet numbering 18 battleships and numerous cruiser and destroyer escorts sailed into the straits to engage in an artillery duel with the Turkish guns defending the narrow straits. The turning point came as a result though of one small Turkish minelayer having succeeded in mining the straits, which led directly to the loss in one day of three battleships sunk and three others badly damaged. The losses forced the allied naval commander Admiral
John de Robeck to sound the "general recall" to protect what remained of his force.
The Allied fleet having failed to force a passage through the Dardanelles, an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula began in April 1915. In January 1916, after eight months' fighting, with approximately 250,000 casualties on each side, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn. It was a costly campaign for the Allied powers and the Ottoman Empire as well as for the sponsors of the expedition, especially Winston Churchill who was forced to resign as First Sea Lord (MJF: watch out Pete Hegseth!).
The Gallipoli Campaign will have a special resonance for Australian and New Zealand Forum members as it proved a turning point in the two countries' histories due to the egregious losses they, as emerging nations, suffered during the campaign. I actually attended the 100th anniversary of the landings to honour my maternal Grandfather and his Irish comrades who were amongst the first British forces to land on the Gallipoli Peninsula. His battalion were annihilated in one morning as they were cut down by Turkish machine gun fire on the beach whilst disembarking (think of the landing scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan to get some idea of the carnage). Of over 600 men who landed, only 29 were still fit for duty by the end of the day. In eight months of fighting the Allied forces advanced no more than a few hundred metres from the cliffs where they landed, reflecting what the C's said about Br'er Rabbit
* getting stuck in the Tar Baby.
*BTW: I loved those stories as a young child but now they are banned by the woke brigade for being racist.
In many ways I can see potential parallels here with an upcoming American amphibious/airborne assault ether on the extremely steep Iranian coastline or on Kharg Island. Instead of the intense machine gun fire of yesteryear, American forces would no doubt be hit instead by swarms of suicide drones. Naval vessels and landing boats would be subject to dangers from modern, sophisticated sea mines and attacks from swarms of fast Iranian speed boats and launches, some packed with high explosives. The Iranians may still have some small, torpedo armed submarines available too.
In 1915 Britain was a superpower filled with Imperial hubris, yet in spite of all its power, it could not dislodge determined Turkish defenders from their strong positions. If the C's are correct, then in spite of Trump's hubris and overwhelming US might, US forces may end up suffering the same fate as their counterparts in 1915. Given the impact the Gallipoli Campaign had on my grandfather's later life (at one stage he was thrown on a dead pile but crawled off and reported back for duty), I do not envy the young men (and women) who may be asked to conduct such a landing.