The United States entered the conflict with Iran suffering from extreme overconfidence fueled by the appearances of a swift victory in Venezuela. Trump dismissed risks to oil markets and ignored asymmetric lessons from the war in Ukraine. Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz using inexpensive drones to target global shipping insurance. The strategic failure echoes past mistakes in Vietnam and Afghanistan where material superiority failed against resilient adversaries.
afghanistan war
Obama’s Born-Again Missile Envy Over Syria: Wrong on All Counts
Whether the Syrian regime used chemical weapons or not, Obama would be wrong to attack, even if Congress approves. It’s not America’s war to fight, it’s not Obama’s judgment to make, and his red line is an absurd marker when contrasted with two and a half years of atrocities, and 100,000 deaths, that never got a peep.
Since 9/11: A Reckoning
Moving tributes and grief aside, one lesson of the last 10 years is that we have yet to learn the lesson of the last 10 years: we are not only on a spiral downward. We are feeding the spiral, collectively and consciously. We should all be mourners, and not just for 9/11’s victims.