Quick Hitter: War, Again
Well, here we are. In what should be a surprise to literally no one, Dear Leader has unilaterally, and unconstitutionally, declared war on Iran. Oh, sorry, did I say unilaterally? My bad. He is joined in this endeavor by our erstwhile ally (and genocide doer) Israel. And… that’s about it. Don’t believe me? Let’s check in with the New York Times:
How about the newly Trump-friendly Washington Post:
I could go on, but you get the point. So, why are we doing this? I mean, just last year the White House posted this gem, which as of writing this post is still up:
So why now? I mean, it can’t be Iran’s obliterated nuclear program, so why did our President call a news conference at 3am on a Saturday morning (11:30 am in Tehran)? Obviously, it wasn’t for tactical surprise under the cover of darkness… unless the cover he wanted was purely domestic. I am sure he will address the nation later today (our time) to explain his rationale, right? Right? According to initial reports, that’s a no1. He feels he has made his case. Or, more accurately, has said this is what he wants, so “making a case” isn’t necessary.
The Peace President did, however, use the attack as part of his ongoing assault on the constitution, bleating out a link to a conspiracy theory regarding Iran trying to interfere with the 2020 and 2024 elections.
To be clear, it is almost certain that Iran did this. As did China and Russia. As did (and will) all of our adversaries. This isn’t new. What IS new is our president using these as justification for an attack. Further, a draft executive order was leaked just yesterday in which Trump allies are trying to exert massive (and wholly illegal) control over elections under the guise of “Chinese election interference”2. The collection of data points is very telling, and very scary, even if he claims that he isn’t going to go down this particular road. I mean, he hasn’t done anything that he explicitly said during the campaign he wasn’t going to do, so why should we worry he’s going to start now?
Let me be sure to clarify that there is certainly an argument for regime change in Iran. The “religious” leadership there is dangerous and a repressive force against a wonderful people who deserve to be free. They have killed tens of thousands of Iranians who dared to rise up against them over the last few weeks. The mullahs are a threat not only to the Iranian people, but to the region as well. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, and stopping that is, obviously, a net positive for the world. Thing is, in this brief paragraph I have made a stronger argument for action than our president has. Further, considering all of that, the United States should not be in the business of pre-emptive war. It didn’t work in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is not likely to work in Iran. It is incredibly unpopular at home and will further cast us as a pariah on the world stage. Or should, although as I write this I am seeing messages of support from the UK, Australia, and (somewhat shockingly) Canada. It will be interesting to see just how far that support goes, especially if this is drawn out.
There was a portion of Trump’s nocturnal announcement that was new: he specifically said that this war may be drawn out and could result in the loss of American lives. That, as far as I recall, was never mentioned in any of the other aggressive attacks from this self-styled “peace president”. Alas, there have already been casualties, but on the Iranian side of the ledger, as it is being reported that the US mistakenly hit a girl’s school, with over 50 young women killed. I have always maintained that this admin is evil, but killing elementary school aged girls to distract from the rape and trafficking of high school and college aged girls is certainly a choice, even for the monsters that make up Trump 2.0.
I can’t help but think of this “accidental strike” outside the knowledge of the dual announcements from our Secretary of DeBeers last night. First, he announced that his department is cancelling contracts with AI behemoth Anthropic because the company refused to bypass their safety standards with regards to autonomous weapons systems (that means allowing their AI tools to kill people without human involvement) as well as using their tech for domestic surveillance (the military should not have a goddamned thing to do with domestic surveillance in the first place, much less putting it in the hands of AI). Shortly after that, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman announced that his company had agreed to terms with the military, and he claimed that OpenAI is also opposed to AI kill machines and spying on Americans, and claimed that “it’s in our agreement”. Now, if you know anything about Altman, this should scare the shit out of you. Suffice it to say, I don’t trust him, at all, and fully expect to see AI death bots. I also have to wonder if it was AI tools that hit that school today…
I do have hope that this attack backfires. Not that I want the Iranian regime to continue to oppress their own people, but because I fear that most will not see this as that which it so clearly, to me at least, is. A Wag the Dog distraction from the myriad failures of this admin domestically. Regardless of any potential military success, the attack is already being met with fierce criticism. Not only from Democrats (expected), but also from those who, up until now, were some of his fiercest supporters. To wit:
This piece is getting a little longer than I had intended, so I am going to stop here. Obviously this is an ongoing thing, so we will all see where it goes. I would like to mention something that a friend posted in a discussion. I don’t want to identify them, but I thought it was very well said, and succinctly states my feelings about this attack:
Even if this succeeds people will be learning the wrong lesson: that unilateral violence against people Trump doesn’t like works.
The admin has been pretty smart about going after some very unpopular people (Tren de Agua3, Maduro, Khameni, etc.) which gives them the ability to paint any opposition to their unconstitutional acts as siding with the bad guys. That’s part and parcel for this admin: arguing that the ends justify the means, even when the means are anathema to what we are supposed to be all about as a country.
Despite all who oppose this course of action, there is always one constituency that can be counted on when brown people are being killed in the Middle East, and they did not disappoint.
Take Care and Stay Strong, Together.
As with any time a situation is unfolding and fluid, this may change.
It is important to point out that Executive Orders are NOT laws, despite what the Orange Menace thinks, so we don’t have to freak out over every one. Especially those that are only drafts. Quite a few of his EOs have already been struck down in the courts. That said, they do speak to what he and his cronies are trying to do.
Yes, I know it’s bullshit, you know it’s bullshit, but a LOT of Americans don’t.