War is Hell! But…

I say this because of the increasing possibility that we may be on the precipice of such a conflict with Iran. There is little doubt in the minds of anyone familiar with that rogue nation that such a war would be so bloody, that it would make the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan look like a walk in the park by comparison. 

The one thing we need to do is proceed along that track with extreme caution. I do not ever want to see another mother, wife, or child of a fallen soldier cry bitter tears over their lost loved one killed in battle. A war with Iran would surely produce a lot of those. God forbid. I am a lover of peace and as noted - seek it at almost all costs. 

The key word there is ‘almost’.

Iran cannot be allowed to attack American interests with impunity. The downing of an American surveillance drone yesterday was an unambiguous attack against the United States. General Hossein Salami, the head of Iran’s infamous ‘Revolutionary Guard’ bragged that they did it because it violated their airspace. US intelligence agencies have proof that it didn’t. That drone was flying over international waters when it was shot down. 

This follows recent  Iranian attacks against huge commercial tankers of our allies navigating international waters near Iran.  By denying they had anything to do with that, it is obvious they are sending a message that they can harm our interests and those of our allies at will with impunity and plausible deniability. And yet when they choose to - brag about it.

The reason Iran is doing this is because they are being choked to death by America’s reactivation of its sanctions against them. Sanctions that were in place before the US signed the so-called ‘nuclear deal’ with them.

Our decision to exit that deal was because it did absolutely nothing to them other than delay their production of nuclear weapons. It did not address the fact that they are responsible for spreading terror all over the region. They continue to do that with religious fervor and impunity. All while prospering because those crippling sanctions were removed as a part of that terrible deal.  Trump decided to trash that deal and snap our sanctions back in place. Their economy is once again being trashed. This despite our allies still honoring their end of that deal.

Iran is currently choking. They blame us. And are retaliating by attacking us. And by attacking our allies to convince them to influence us to re-enter that deal.

We are not going to do that. What we ought to do instead is convince our allies to leave that deal too. I know they need Iran’s oil and commerce for their own economic welfare. But sometimes principle Trumps economic security. Especially when lives are at stake via the spread of terror that results from tolerating it.

That being said, one can debate whether leaving that deal was a good idea or not. As noted, I firmly believe it was the right thing to do. The left on the other hand believes leaving that deal was a mistake and responsible for Iran’s current belligerency. That may be true. But the fact is that they were spreading terror all the while we were in that deal. With an improving economy for them to do it.

Why was that anymore acceptable than the belligerency they show now?

Meanwhle. there should be no doubt about what should follow. Iran cannot be allowed to bully the world with impunity. Despite their mighty revolutionary guard, they are nothing compared to US military might. 

We cannot have a situation where the mightiest nation in the world refuses to react to aggression because of fear of eventual escalation into a hot war. There has to be a measured military response that will put fear into the hearts of Iranian leaders. To put it the way Senator Lindsay Grahamdid: 

The time is more than ripe for that rogue Islamic regime to see our might in action. No longer should we be seen as a ‘paper tiger’ where we are afraid to use it even when attacked. I thought that Obama was weak for his refusal to follow up that way after Syria crossed his red lines with respect to chemical weapons. I am sorry to say, that the current President isn’t much better. After authorizing a measured response – he canceled it almost immediately. He actually said that he doesn’t believe that Iran shot down our drone on purpose. (I know the man lies all the time when its suits his purpose – but that comment is ridiculous!)

I understand Trump’s reluctance. He campaigned on getting us out of foreign wars. The last thing he wants to do is renege on that promise by getting us into a war that will make the last two wars look like a picnic. But as I said, sometimes you need to take a stand - and do the right thing.

At the end of the day, Iran does not want to go to war with us. They know they can’t win. They will be destroyed if they try. But they also believe that they can continue to attack us and our allies with impunity – with threats about the bloodshed that would follow if we dared to go to war with them. With that in mind they believe they can do just about anything they want. They believe the US does not have the stomach for war - even though we would obviously win such a war. That is surely the case if we do not retaliate after being attacked. 

They need to be disabused of that notion. And very quickly. We need to inflict pain on them in such a way that they will realize that any escalation would not be to their advantage. Doing so now would not involve shedding any American blood. We can for example bomb some of their missile launching sites by air with relative ease via our stealth bombers. We have to let them know that we are not afraid to fight tyranny wherever it shows up.  And pay a price for freedom. 

That is what America did at Normandy over 70 years ago against another rouge nation. The message should be that if Iran tries anything like that again, we will not hesitate to react in even stronger ways. In the meantime we should increase the sanctions and hope it foments an ultimate overthrow of that terrorist regime by their own people. 

Their Islamist citizens overthrew a powerful western style government 40 years ago. This time their freedom loving citizens should do it again. And instead of hearing chants like ‘Death to America’ we will hopefully here shouts of ‘Long live America’. I truly believe that most freedom loving Iranians would actually love to end that terrorist regime. May God let it happen.