AKRON, Ohio (WJW) – As the shaky military and political balance between the United States and Iran plays out on a global stage, a University of Akron professor is among a group of trusted experts with whom high ranking government officials are consulting for advice.
Professor Karl Kaltenthaler teaches political science and intelligence at the university
However, he is also among a group of academians and consultants called on to offer their expertise to the Department of Defense and the president’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Kaltenthaler says he has been very busy since last Friday when the US issued an airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
He says he’s been conferring with officials at home and in the Middle East.
“My immediate reaction was ‘this is going to be a very destabilizing event the way it was carried out.” Who he is, I thought this is a match on a powder keg. Particularly in Iraq, and I do a lot of work in Iraq,” said Kaltenthaler. “This was kind of considered probably a very very remote option to most people, even the people that were advising the president. I think a lot of people, myself included, were surprised that that option was actually taken.”
Kaltenthaler focuses much of his work on offering advice aimed at bringing stability in a region where that has been quite difficult.
Much of his focus is on neighboring Iraq, where the attack on Soleimani took place, and where Iran countered by launching ballistic missiles on joint Iraqi and American military bases on Tuesday.
He sees the missile attacks mostly as a symbolic way for Iran to send a message internally to its population that it is willing to stand up against U.S. interests in the region in the face of military action.
Although Soleimani was considered by the United States and much of the world as a terrorist, Kaltenthaler says within the country of Iran he was very much revered as a strong leader.
Within Iran, he says residents are being told that there were dozens of casualties as a result of the missile attacks. Meanwhile, President Trump and U.S. Allies are reporting there were none.
“There’s lots of people in the Middle East who are concerned about this situation. I think some of them — most of them — will breathe a sigh of relief as to what has transpired in the last 24 hours,” said Kaltenthaler.
“I’ve been on the phone both in phone calls and in What’s App and telegram, which is very popular in the Middle East in ways to communicate, talking to people on the ground, particularly in Iraq, and seeing what’s going on because I’m following very closely the politics in Iraq in reaction to the attack on Soleimani,” he added.
Kaltenthaler believes there will be no armed military activity in the coming days as Iran pressures its allies to get what it hopes to achieve and the United States does the same politically behind the scenes.
He believes current events will be used to expel the American military presence from Iraq, which could help give rise to a resurgence of Isis in the region.
In addition to the U.S and Iran, other nations are concerned about the fallout, including the UAE and Israel.
“I have also been in touch with people in the Saudi military community, talking to them, because we worried about Saudi Arabia being attacked in response to Iran,” said Kaltenthaler.
“I think the most important thing for Americans to understand is what the interests are of the various actors in the Middle East. There are really strong concerns in many of these different populations about their security, that I think Americans aren’t aware of. There’s a lot of distrust among the population and, to a great degree, to create stability in the Middle East, we have to somehow lessen the distrust and that’s extremely difficult to do,” he added
Kaltenthaler says although he and others offer reccomendations from their expertise, many times the decisions that are made by the White House do not follow their advice.
“I have been lucky that a couple of things that I have done have got to the presidential daily brief in the past so I can say at least the president looked at it, but I know in the grand scheme of things I’m just a voice among the many, many voices out there that are giving advice,” he said.
