Coping with The Unfathomable

Patience, plus readiness, may be the best weapons against Tehran

"I think there's no point in trying to predict what the Iranians are going to do. We simply have a task to do, and we're going to go ahead and do it." So said Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, reflecting what was probably the Reagan Administration's dominant view of the challenge posed by Tehran. But even as the Administration was being assailed for the lack of foresight in its gulf policy, the Pentagon was thinking hard about what to do in the event of an Iranian attack on U.S. warships in the waterway. Beyond that, other questions loomed. How could immediate tensions...

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