Atlanta, GA
March 4, 2026
Looks like another momentous March.
Six years ago this month, the President of the United States declared an “emergency”, and told Americans they should stay home for “fifteen days to slow the spread”.
This was a temporary sacrifice for the “common good”. After all, “we were all in this together”. But when that quarantine period ended, the shutdown persisted. Despite initial assurances from leaders who imposed the lockdowns, in some states they continued more than a year.
Twenty-three years ago this month, we were promised a quick war to conquer Iraq. Dick Cheney assured us the effort would be a “cakewalk”. It would be over in “weeks, rather than months”.
The quagmire continued more than a decade, with hundreds of thousands dead and trillions of dollars wasted. It was the most idiotic blunder any modern administration has made.
Until now.
Socrates in the Saddle
Over the weekend, the “peace president”… the man who’s dropped more bombs than any of his predecessors… launched another war. Somewhere George W Bush is relieved that someone started a stupider conflict than he did.
We were initially told air strikes could tame Iran. The president now says this escapade should be over in four or five weeks…. tho’ it “could go longer.” And this is what he’s saying at the outset, when the outlook is always most optimistic.
Does anyone believe this? I hope not. After the last twenty-five years, no one should believe anything the government says.
Regarding this war, it’s saying all sorts of things. It’s being fought to dismantle the nuclear program the US “obliterated” last year… or to avenge the hostages taken in 1979 and the Beirut barracks bombed four years later… or to punish the regime for killing protestors. The only reasons not (originally) given are the real ones: to harm Russia and China, and (primarily) because Israel wants Iran wrecked.
Israel may get its wish. But it doesn’t look like it’ll be easy. The effort has already caused unnecessary loss of life, will further impoverish this country, breed more enemies we don’t need, leave this presidency in ashes, and ease a return to power of deranged Leftists determined to erode the remnants of Americans’ liberty.
All (ostensibly) to make Iran “free”. If Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya are harbingers, that won’t happen. But who knows? Maybe this time is different. After all, as the Vice President reassured us, previous catastrophes occurred because we had “dumb presidents”.
So how’s it going with Socrates in the saddle?
All regional US bases have been hit and have apparently sustained significant damage. More than 150 Iranian girls were murdered after an air strike hit their school. Six American servicemen are confirmed dead after one of Iran’s retaliatory attacks.
Denny’s After Midnight
War enthusiasts boast that the Ayatollah was taken out. OK. But is that the precedent we want to set? That US presidents explicitly order hits on other leaders, and then brag about it after the assassination occurs?
What possible unintended consequences could that cause? How might killing a spiritual leader inspire his radicalized followers? We may find out.
Killing Khamenei also undermines an ostensible rationale for this war. The Ayatollah raised religious objections to nuclear weapons, and was the primary reason Iran wasn’t pursuing them. After what the Trump Administration has done, will his successor feel the same way?
We have no idea who that will be. US officials admit they don’t either… nor do they seem to care, which is revealing.
The history of recent regime-change wars suggests destruction is desired for its own sake. Chaos seems to be the point. As in Syria or Libya, a wasteland of warlords roaming around in pickup trucks poses little threat to Greater Israel.
In a clear indication this “combat operation” isn’t going as planned, the administration is telling Americans in fourteen countries that they need to leave.
Now they tell them!
How are they supposed to get out and where are they supposed to go? If the administration expected what’s occurred, it would’ve (or should’ve) advised Americans to depart before the shooting started.
Donald Trump seems to have assumed Iran would’ve surrendered by now, and that he’d be basking in the glow an historic achievement. Instead, he’s being baked by the fallout. It wouldn’t be the first time arrogant rulers underestimated the perils of war.
Notwithstanding the occasional Grenada, this is how these things usually go. The Battle of Manassas would end the War Between the States before spectators’ picnic baskets emptied. First World War troops planned to be home for Christmas. Vietnam began with a smattering of “advisers”.
Proponents of this war assert that it won’t become a quagmire like Afghanistan or Iraq, because this won’t be a long-lasting occupation. But that’s begging the question.
The people who launched previous clusters didn’t expect them to become debacles either. Disastrous wars are like Denny’s after midnight. Few plan to go there; but they often end up there.
Kafkaesque Logic
But maybe the president realizes what he’s wrought. Thru Italian intermediaries, he asked Iran for a ceasefire. After having their leader assassinated and twice being attacked while at the negotiating table, they’ve understandably told him to stick it.
Why wouldn’t every other regime in the world do the same thing? After such dishonorable “negotiating” tactics, who could possibly trust American “diplomats”? This entire fiasco is a disgrace.
The incompetence was compounded when the Secretary of State and Speaker of the House admitted the U.S. is fighting at the behest of Israel. Anyone with any sense already suspected this. But this inept confession further erodes whatever regional goodwill the U.S. government retains, and reveals how corrupted its “foreign policy” has become.
That an Israeli attack would jeopardize Americans isn’t a reason for the U.S. to strike first. It’s confirmation that Washington and Jefferson were right to avoid entangling alliances.
The appropriate response to an impending Israeli attack wasn’t to beat them to it. It was to withdraw all financial and military support from Israel, pack up US bases, and bring all troops home. This should be done regardless what Israel does.
The messaging around this war is abysmal. Some administration sycophants insist Trump didn’t even start a war… because this isn’t a “war”.
Much as Truman called Korea was a “police action”, officials and congressmen refer to this mess as a “special operation”, a “conflict”, or simply a “mission”. Aside from Marco Rubio’s admission, no one is able to clearly define what that is.
Some suggest this can’t be a war… because Congress didn’t declare one! This is the kind of Kafkaesque “logic” that flows like sewage from the banks of the Potomac.
The strategy is to unconstitutionally start a war without a declaration of war so that you can later say the war is constitutional because it isn’t a war because Congress didn’t declare it. This tactic is familiar, and is why no US military “operations” since the Second World War are considered official “wars” by the United States.
But from the other side of the war party’s mouth comes the Secretary of War, the Vice President, and the Wall Street Journal, who insist Iran has been at war with America for forty-seven years! The president himself said we’re not starting a war, we’re ending it!
But if we’ve been under attack all this time, how did no one in the United States ever notice it? How come no school kids were taught to duck under their desks? Why didn’t Republicans mention this ongoing war in any recent campaigns? Why hasn’t the Journal spent four decades publishing daily editorials about the conflict?
Unavoidable Last Resort
The last time Congress did declare a war was after Pearl Harbor. After a direct attack on US territory, even FDR sought congressional authorization for a military response. It didn’t take long. He got it the next day, because almost everyone in Congress agreed armed force was necessary.
They thought the United States themselves (not merely some bases in far off lands where they’re not supposed to be) were under existential threat. That’s the only reason wars should be fought. It’s also why declarations of war are required, and why professional war hawks pretend they aren’t.
Only one member of Congress voted against declaring war on Japan. She’s to be commended for her reasoning. Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a dedicated pacifist, explained that, “As a woman, I can’t go to war and I refuse to send anyone else”.
That’s as it should be. At least Medieval Kings had the decency to lead their armies. War should be such an unavoidable last resort that people pushing it should be willing to die in it, or to have their closest loved ones do so. No one without literal skin in the game should tell anyone else to play.
The president is now projecting four weeks to finish this war. The Secretary of Defense suggested it could take eight or… “as long as it takes”.
If (God forbid) this lasts that long, Congress will have to weigh in. The War Powers Resolution requires a Congressional vote on military action lasting more than sixty days.
Today the U.S. government is bombing Tehran, a densely populated city of ten million people. At what point to friends and relatives of those killed in all the countries the U.S. government terrorizes decide that American cities need to endure this too?
And if they do, how will our government respond to attacks they will doubtless claim are “unprovoked”? The answer is obvious - more war overseas, and domestic crack-downs on the usual suspects: Us.
The longer this unnecessary “operation”rages, the longer it’s likely to last. The president will be less prone to “declare victory” with Americans killed and bases turned to rubble.
With a dozen countries involved and CIA-armed Kurds acting as ground forces in Iran, the war has already spread.
Will it take more than four weeks to slow it? We’ll see.
JD