Summing Up War With Iran: Inevitable Part I.

Delenda est Iran.

Marcus Porcius Cato, Roman Soldier, and senator, known to history as Cato The Elder, famously ended many of his speeches with Delenda est Carthago. Carthage must be destroyed.

Carthage. The other major power in the Western Mediterranean, was already defeated in the first of her three wars with the Roman Republic. They didn’t take it well. Cato The Elder understood this. Groaning under the severe reparations imposed on it by The Roman Senate, Carthage had plenty of fight left in her, and planned another go at it with her rival.

Carthage must be destroyed. There was no reasoning with them. Left to fester amid a job half-done, resentful, petulant, Carthage would not suffer the Roman yoke for long. Cato understood that sooner or later, circumstances would force Rome into action.

Past Time To Act.

As children of God and products of Western Civilization, we have a hard time wrapping our brains around leaders who care not one wit about those they lead. Decent people are naturally horrified by those lacking in empathy and the pathologies run cheek and jowl. Yet, here we are.

The Iranian leadership is counting on our sense of empathy. No one wants the desolation of the Iranian people. And just as true, the Iranian people have had nearly 50 years to free themselves from the 7th century theocracy ruling them.

According the Human Rights International, the Iranian regime massacred 43,000 protesters this year. What was the response of the remaining ninety-three million Iranians? Was it to rip the rifles out of the hands of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and beat them to death with the stocks? No. The response by the Iranian people was complete capitulation licking their oppressor’s boots. Apparently the taste of dust off of a jackboot is so much more delicious than liberty.

Yes, Inevitable.

That’s the word of the week. Inevitable. It’s the word that comes to mind when I consider the current escalation in the war with Iran.  

Note how carefully I am choosing my phrasing here.  

The war with Iran did not start on February 28 of this year.  Iran declared war on us back in 1979, and that war is well into its fifth decade.  President Trump did not “start a war” with them.  If you want to assert that the current Administration escalated the conflict – an already existing conflict – and that’s your objection, then we can start there.  At least we can debate the merits or demerits of this in good faith.

My never-to-be-humble opinion?  This was, in a word… inevitable.  The mullahs running the Persian Empire have never sought peace with us, and no amount of discussion will ever convince me that they ever will.  Sooner or later – and this is way, way later – circumstances were going to lead us to this. At least we’re taking the initiative before nuclear tipped missiles are leaving their silos heading toward New York. So, let’s be candid. This ends one way.  Them or us.  Rome or Carthage. The United States or Iran, and without apology, I choose the United States. The current Iranian government will destroy us, given the chance.  They have said it themselves, and I believe them, given their clearly observable behavior over the last 50 years.

The Trump administration is currently overseeing the first real effort to fight back against this irrational, backward 7^th Century Mullacracy.  This includes Ronald Magnus of blessed memory.

Two Critiques:

1. The Trump administration probably should have waited until after the mid-term election cycle to begin the current escalation. 
2. We need to go all out.  Now.

But Phil, you magnificent 4-dimensional chess-player, what do you mean by go all out?

I’m glad you asked.

Forget separating military targets from civilian. Everything is a “military” target.  You won’t find that maxim listed in U.S. Army manuals under “Principles of War. ” Of course, in my never-to-be-humble-opinion… you should. Once you get past that quaint, self-defeating Geneva Convention constraint, you can begin.

1. From the air, destroy every power generation station, every water delivery system, and every sewage treatment plant.  Eliminate oil rigs, natural gas extraction points, and every pipeline, every refinery.  Leave the country in the dark, drinking gray water and defecating out their front door.  Let disease fester, overloading their hospitals and clinics.
2. Destroy their manufacturing.  Every factory, every smoke stack.  Allow nothing left to feed their war machine. Eliminate the very hope and notion that gasoline and diesel would have somewhere to go should they manage to pump so much as a barrel out of the ground.
3. Destroy all rail lines, crater every major highway and every airport runway.  No raw materials to feed whatever is left of their industrial base.  Allow their grain to rot in their silos, the fruit to whither on every vine, and prevent every head of cattle from making it to market.  Let the population of the urban centers eat vermin, boiled leather, and possibly their old and weak neighbors.  Let them choose between starvation and experiencing the horror of cannibalism. You want to live, in the 7th century? Let’s test your commitment.

Two Things Can Be True At The Same Time.

1. The revulsion of these actions cannot be overstated; the Iranian people do not deserve this.
2. The Iranian people have had nearly 50 years to produce a Western-friendly government.  That they’ve had their chance is obvious to the point of cliché.

Forget “decimation,” a mis-used term if there ever was one.  I doubt even a 25% reduction in population would break the Mullah’s resolve. Relocation to Switzerland? Not so much as a whisper of a thought for them. And then there is the resolve of the American People. Over the last century we’ve inserted infinite degrees of separation between ourselves and a survival scenario. I doubt we have the stomach for it.  

Surrender is an option as well.  Hey, at least we’d be “true to ourselves.” [Eye Roll]

Selah.