International Suffering & Iran’s Lucrative Alternatives to End the War

  Chicago “No Kings” Protest 

Ships unable to pass thru the Strait of Hormuz                  

International Suffering & Iran’s Lucrative Alternatives to End the War

“Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran… This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was clear path to a swift victory… This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.” 

Trump-appointed director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, in his March 17th letter of resignation to the President.

At a March 25th prayer session at the Pentagon, Hegseth prayed for U.S. troops to inflict “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy … We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.”

As an estimated 9 million people took part in the March 28th “No Kings” day protests, it’s abundantly clear that even within MAGA ranks, Trump’s WAR is exceptionally unpopular. The depth of ignorance among the top American deciders is staggering. Farmers are watching the cost of fertilizer (petroleum based) skyrocket, airlines are forced to jack-up travel costs to accommodate jet fuel price hikes, virtually all commodities and manufactured goods now reflect the increased cost of shipping, the price at the pump is vectoring upwards with no sign of abating, and corporate employees are increasingly asked to cut costs at every corner and take on more responsibility for the same pay (life for much of that labor force has dropped to “miserable”).

“A malaise is sweeping office life at American companies, which appear to be in a race to find inefficiencies and cut costs. The curtailing of perks, from offsites to travel, is happening against the backdrop of an AI push that employees say seems aimed at squeezing more work out of fewer people. The upshot, many employees say, is that work has been stripped of fun. Middle managers say they’re on the front lines.” Wall St Journal, March 30th. Still, the various spokespeople for the Trump administration speak of “temporary price increases” and their absolute military victory at every level. But ground forces are converging into that theater, with discussions of finding and removing Iran’s almost one thousand pounds of enriched uranium. Any significant use of US ground forces is precisely the same step that foretold the “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Still nothing passes the Strait of Hormuz unless Iran permits passage. Even as Iran’s most expensive and sophisticated weapons – from radar stations, manufacturing plants to launching facilities, Iran’s navy and air force and most of the “big stuff” – are severely damaged or destroyed, Tehran’s massive decentralized stash of cheap weapons (e.g., drones, mines and surrogates like the Houthis) seem to provide an inexhaustible means of controlling that exceptionally narrow Strait. With unarmed citizens living in an extreme surveillance state, our strategy seems to depend, ultimately, on boots on the ground defeating the IRGC and all supporting military groups, well beyond the mere occupation the oil port on Kharg Island is hardly determinative.

We seem to forget how badly the US military has fared against asymmetrical warfare, the slow but consistent use of cheap weapons by doctrinaire or religious zealots, avoiding massive confrontation in favor of the sapping strategy of hit and run tactics, has hobbled us time and again. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. And with a Secretary of WAR/Defense more concerned with shoving white Christian nationalism as the guiding vector for our armed forces instead of attempting to understand what Trump’s aspirations are up against, we are at a profound, self-inflicted disadvantage.

With adequate healthcare plunging, as popular social programs (like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP) are being rapidly diminished to accommodate the record-breaking tax cut for the rich embodied in Trump’s misnamed “Big Beautiful Bill,” the administration’s demand for a $200 billion dollar deficit-busting additional allocation for the WAR against Iran (we’ve spent about $1 billion/day so far), the fulfillment of Benjamin Netanyahu’s wish list to destroy Iran, would seem to be an easy way for Congress to reassert its war powers and reject this absurd request… by just saying “no.” Trump is lobbing insults at GOP members of Congress to force them to eliminate the Senate filibuster rule and pass the Save America Act, a statute aimed at culling as many likely Democratic voters as possible.

As much as Iran’s leadership (which has replacements waiting for every level of government) has no particular concern for its people and seems to be enjoying decimating civilian targets (like hotels) in neighboring Arab states, outlasting the US is a complete victory to them. As the price of oil soars, they are able to export enough of their product (through the Strait with US consent) “Iran may be getting pummeled on the battlefield, but it is winning the energy war. The Islamic Republic is now earning nearly twice as much from oil sales each day as it did before American and Israeli bombs started falling. Our report goes inside Iran’s wartime oil machine, a complex operation that relies on front companies and shadow banks.” Wall Street Journal, March 29th.

And Iranian leaders are wise enough in dealing with a US transactional President – who has never been able to understand that running a government is not remotely like running a business – where the off-ramp will probably include recognition of a new Iranian toll for ships to pass the Strait safely. Meanwhile that mega-ignorant faction of the Republican Party has, once again, resorted to Muslim-bashing, claiming religious superiority, while still not knowing the difference between Shiites (Iran is 95% Shiite, a faith that deems the highest prelate in the faith as the sole interpreter of the Koran) and Sunnis (most of the Muslim world, where the Koran is taken literally, at face value). Bigotry seems to be the go-to response of the ignorant.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it must come as no surprise that Donald Trump’s utterances about the progress of the Iran WAR are both conflicting and bear no resemblance to the real WAR news.