Every new American administration walks into the same trap, according to retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal. They hear from intelligence agencies that a covert operation will quietly fix a problem. They watch a special forces raid pull off a spectacular mission on live feeds. They see precision bombs flatten targets from 30,000 feet. And each time, they believe the hard part is over. McChrystal, who spent five years leading counterterrorism operations in Iraq, calls these the "three great seductions" that repeatedly drag the United States into conflicts it cannot finish.
The first seduction, McChrystal told columnist David French on the New York Times podcast "The Opinions," is covert action. "A new president comes in, and he's told by the intelligence community, 'We can create this great effect and it will be covert. No one will ever know who did it,'" the general said, as "Hvylya" reports. "In my experience, it never stays covert and it rarely works."
The second is the surgical special operations raid. McChrystal pointed to the Maduro extraction in Venezuela as an example where the United States "demonstrated extraordinary competence that night, but not much changed." The operation itself was flawless. The strategic outcome was negligible. Yet the apparent ease of the mission, in McChrystal's view, emboldened further action.
The third and most persistent seduction is air power. From World War II's daylight bombing campaigns through Vietnam's escalation strategy to the "shock and awe" campaign in Iraq, the United States has repeatedly bet that bombing alone can force an adversary to submit. McChrystal argued that the current campaign against Iran, Operation Epic Fury, follows the same pattern. "The outcome's in the minds of the people," he said. "And unless you're going to kill all the people, you may not affect that outcome."
When French pressed him on whether modern technology - loitering drones, deep Israeli intelligence penetration, precision targeting - might finally make air power decisive, McChrystal compared the argument to investor logic. "Since I've retired from the military, I've been involved in some investing, and I love that line: 'This time it's different,'" he said.
Previously, "Hvylya" reported on how Tehran's energy leverage has become a decisive weapon in the new era of great-power competition.