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← The Ground-Troops Debate

Veterans and Former Officials Against a Ground War: "It Will Not Open the Straits"

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED that each speaker said the words quoted, from their own posts, network clips, or reports that quote them (marked where a post summarizes rather than quotes). These are professional judgments, not official statements.

When the Pentagon began moving the 82nd Airborne and thousands of Marines in late March 2026, some of the sharpest warnings came from the people who have fought America's recent wars or run its military: combat veterans, a former CENTCOM commander and a former NATO commander, a former CIA analyst, the founder of the country's best-known military contractor. This page collects what they said on camera and in writing.

Lt. Col. Daniel Davis: "in no way ... will they have died defending their country"​

Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, a four-time combat veteran (Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan twice), wrote on March 25, after that day's statements to Congress, in a post with 517,000 views:

"This statement strongly implies that members of Congress were informed by the administration today that ground operations are all but declared on Iranian territory. Let me categorically state: there is nothing of strategic significance such a tiny force of a few thousand marines and airborne troops could accomplish. It will not open the Straits. It will not compel the Iranian gov to collapse or surrender. Sending these men into combat on a militarily unattainable mission is reprehensible."

"If the president orders this operation, all the casualties that result will be an egregious and flagrant sacrifice of their lives to satisfy one man's pride and arrogance, but in no way, shape or form, will they have died defending their country. If I were a family member of any of these troops and my loved one was sent to death for the vanity of one man, I would be outraged." (Daniel Davis on X, March 25, 2026)

Erik Prince: "It would not be the pushover you saw with the Iraqi army"​

Erik Prince, founder of the private military company Blackwater and no dove: "Don't ever contemplate ground troops in Iran" (post with the video, March 25, 2026). And, as another post quoted him: "Iran is highly intelligent, w/ highly skilled war fighters... It would not be the pushover you saw with the Iraqi army" (post on X, March 31, 2026).

Larry Johnson: "They are lying to the American people"​

Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson, on the Matt Gaetz Show, pointed to A-10 attack jets leaving the U.S.: "A-10s have now departed the United States… There is only one reason for those—that is close air support for ground troops… He's not backing off, this is ramping up… They are lying to the American people about what's happening" (OAN on X, April 1, 2026). That is his inference from a deployment. Two days later, an A-10 flying in the F-15E rescue over Iran was hit.

Col. Douglas Macgregor: "the purpose is to rescue Israel"​

Retired Col. Douglas Macgregor predicted the dynamic in December 2023: "If the Israeli / Hamas conflict escalates into a full fledged war in the Middle East, the request for US troops will come at a point in time when the purpose is to rescue Israel. We are not the great Military power we were in 1991" (Douglas Macgregor on X, December 19, 2023). On March 29, 2026 he posted: "CONFIRMED: Pentagon preparing troops for Ground Invasion of Iran." A Pakistani fact-check account called that "fake news," but the Washington Post reported that same week that the Pentagon was "preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran" (see Pentagon Ground Plans).

Robert Pape: "roughly 70 percent"​

Political scientist Robert Pape, who studies air campaigns, told the Diary of a CEO podcast, as a post summarized him, that air power alone has never toppled a regime, and put the chance of limited U.S. ground operations "at roughly 70 percent, possibly within weeks," comparing it to Lyndon Johnson's trap in Vietnam (post summarizing the interview, July 23, 2026).

Two generals, two views​

  • Gen. Philip Breedlove (retired, former NATO commander), on Fox, as quoted by the World Socialist Web Site: the 2003 invasion of Iraq "required more than 300,000 US troops"; the force now in the region was 50,000, "but few are ground troops."
  • Gen. Frank McKenzie (retired, former CENTCOM commander), on Face the Nation, on seizing Kharg Island: "That's something we should think about doing because possession of Iranian soil would be a significant factor in future negotiations with Iran" (WSWS, July 16, 2026).

A former commander of the very headquarters running the war, publicly recommending that American troops hold Iranian soil.

Joe Kent: "We do not support putting any boots on the ground in Iran"​

The former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned over the war, spent the following months making videos asking Americans to call the White House. See Joe Kent.

What the veterans agree on​

From different politics, the combat veterans say the same things: a few thousand Marines and paratroopers cannot achieve the war's goals; Iran is not Iraq; the numbers needed for a real ground campaign are far larger than what is deployed; and the families of the troops sent will be the ones who pay. Those are the numbers the Jerusalem Post column put at "750 thousand and 1.5 million American troops" (see Recruiting).

Status: Daniel Davis, Erik Prince, Larry Johnson, Douglas Macgregor, Robert Pape, Philip Breedlove, Frank McKenzie, and Joe Kent are alive.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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