Reports tell us that the U.S. is considering plans for occupying Kharg Island and the Iranian half of the Persian Gulf shoreline.

Good for our policy planners.

Why US policymakers are right about wanting this

This is an absolutely solid policy idea on what’s needed, both for the Iran war in general and for the Gulf in particular. The shoreline is too vital for world commerce to leave it under the control of a local regime, moreover one that’s volatile, unstable, and malicious. Taking it over is right, both immediately and long-term.

Immediately, it’s needed to help reopen the Gulf and secure its reopening.

Long term, it’s a good Trumpian plan for taking territory. Yes, a good Trumpian plan, not “another wacky Trump idea”.

And yes, we take the logical follow-on step after that: we should annex the shore area. Not just go in and out. We didn’t leave Japan or Germany after we occupied them; we transmuted it into an alliance where we made a huge profit over the decades from the relationship. And we didn’t leave New Mexico or California after we won them. We didn’t call it a forever war when we stayed, or blame ourselves for imperialism.

Owning the shoreline will give us a good incentive to stay, not just abandon it after we win in Iran. We can add more incentives later, like building seafront properties, maybe even Trump Plazas.

We need good incentives like this. Territory and money. Real interests. Real skin in the game. So we never again will repeat the spiteful behavior of Obama, when he abandoned Libya after we won it.

Obama was acting on his underlying anti-American prejudices. These........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)