I published a piece about this yesterday from the perspective of a daughter of a dad who fought in Vietnam and the mom of four disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. “You can oppose this war and still love this country. You can oppose this war and still support the troops. In fact, opposing it may be the most patriotic thing you can do right now.
Not despite what history has taught us. Because of it.
We have done this before. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. We went in without a plan, without a defined objective, without an honest answer to how we'd know when it was over. Every single time, real soldiers paid the price for that failure. Real families were changed forever.
We have the receipts. We know what "we'll figure it out as we go" costs.
Seven service members are already dead. Congress was notified after the bombs dropped — not consulted, notified. No vote. No debate. And if you raise any of that out loud, you're told you don't support the troops.
I want to push back on that. Hard.
Supporting the troops isn't a bumper sticker. It isn't silence. It's demanding honest answers before more of them board the plane. It's insisting that Congress do its constitutional job before we commit American lives and American dollars to a war with no defined goal and no plan for the day after.
That's what patriotism looks like. That's what supporting the troops looks like.”
The problem is that even if Congress did its job -- by some unforseen miracle Congressional Republicans found a spine and joined the Democrats in rejection -- there is a 50/50 chance that the order would be ignored by the executive branch and the DoD. And there is very good reason to believe that Israel will continue bombing and Iran will continue drones, regardless.
Good stuff Harry. Thanks. You didn’t mention one of the worst mistakes made by the regime, caused by a total lack of preparation and expertise. No thought was given to the safety and well being of 100s of thousands of Americans who found themselves in these Middle Eastern countries when the bombs started falling. It appears there is no one left in the State Department who has any experience at with how to manage this war trump started.
Excellent points. And more: Russia is winning through this war -- by the resulting oil price increases and even Trump's lifting of oil sanctions, all of which gives them more money to fight Ukraine and to rebuild their economy. Plus: by Trump's feigning negotiations and then striking Iran, our country has now lost all credibility in future attempts at negotiating a settlement. Putin even claimed that this shows that because of that, the U.S. can't be trusted in its Ukraine negotiations either.
The sheer stupidity of this war stuns me. All other issues aside, millions of Iranians clearly want freedom from an oppressive religious regime. There must be hundreds of small ways of empowering them to bring about regime change. It is THEIR nation. They are the experts. And now, because of a mentally ill, demented President and a “DRUNKSEC” (as Rick Wilson refers to Hegseth) whose skills are limited to talking like a video game avatar, they are farther away from this promise than they have been in many decades. That is a human tragedy. That is on us.
What is wrong with you--you crazy bastard. We the US citizens are paying the bill for the "excursion" (as you called it), but you will not or cannot give any straight explanation for this dumb ass move? Did you even think this through? I don't care what the Russians or the Chinese or the Israelis or the Iranians are saying. You are being used/manipulated by all of the aforementioned parties. F__ing wake up--you sleepy, ignorant, arrogant, evil bastard. The oil prices are going up and will continue to go up and you blather about "sacrifice"--you never, never served anybody but yourself. F___ and your family and your elite buddies!! God bless America and democracy.
Failure to prepare the public—Yes. Failure to prepare the ground—Yes. But let’s just dig in through the aorta to the heart of the matter. This war is and will be a total failure.
The numerous deficiencies in planning lead to my conclusion: we are losing the war in Iran. We are depleting our munitions, so when the unexpected happens, our forces will lack the firepower to respond.
Add to these failures: a cavalier attitude toward the possibility (likelihood) of terrorist attacks on American soil (“I guess..”), attacks on troops in the region, uncertainty about our troops on the ground, Russian intelligence assistance to Iran, and the fact that whatever nuclear grade material wasn’t “obliterated” by US attacks last summer is surely scattered and well hidden around a territory twice the size of Texas. All to appease the delusions of a malignant narcissist. And maybe as compensation for whatever monetary benefit he stands to gain by countries longing to see Iran demolished.
I don't see the same bright and shiny outcome projected by Trump & Leavitt & Hegseth. For the more tarnished, bumpy, and painful side of things, read from today's AXIOS:
my hockey Analogy : while Zednay Chara (6'9") is blasting slapshots after slapshots from the blue line trying to hit the net, Theoren Fleury (5'6") zigs & zags around the offense and defense towards the goalie deeking player after player to get one past the goaltender. Theo is an undersized player who was unlikely to reach greatness in the NHL but he did through tenacity, grit and determination.
Trump is fighting an egotistical war.
The Iranian government is fighting a religious war.
Correction.
Drump is having others fight his war and while those others are doing that he's out golfing, grifting and cheating wearing a stupid baseball hat.
Plus the new leader of Iran has vowed vengeance in his first statement.
Hegseth and several command personnel are apparently fighting a fanatical religious war as well. Armageddon, anyone?
I published a piece about this yesterday from the perspective of a daughter of a dad who fought in Vietnam and the mom of four disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. “You can oppose this war and still love this country. You can oppose this war and still support the troops. In fact, opposing it may be the most patriotic thing you can do right now.
Not despite what history has taught us. Because of it.
We have done this before. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. We went in without a plan, without a defined objective, without an honest answer to how we'd know when it was over. Every single time, real soldiers paid the price for that failure. Real families were changed forever.
We have the receipts. We know what "we'll figure it out as we go" costs.
Seven service members are already dead. Congress was notified after the bombs dropped — not consulted, notified. No vote. No debate. And if you raise any of that out loud, you're told you don't support the troops.
I want to push back on that. Hard.
Supporting the troops isn't a bumper sticker. It isn't silence. It's demanding honest answers before more of them board the plane. It's insisting that Congress do its constitutional job before we commit American lives and American dollars to a war with no defined goal and no plan for the day after.
That's what patriotism looks like. That's what supporting the troops looks like.”
https://danismart.substack.com/p/opposing-this-war-is-the-most-patriotic
The problem is that even if Congress did its job -- by some unforseen miracle Congressional Republicans found a spine and joined the Democrats in rejection -- there is a 50/50 chance that the order would be ignored by the executive branch and the DoD. And there is very good reason to believe that Israel will continue bombing and Iran will continue drones, regardless.
Good stuff Harry. Thanks. You didn’t mention one of the worst mistakes made by the regime, caused by a total lack of preparation and expertise. No thought was given to the safety and well being of 100s of thousands of Americans who found themselves in these Middle Eastern countries when the bombs started falling. It appears there is no one left in the State Department who has any experience at with how to manage this war trump started.
EPSTEIN-FURY. Iran war
Just to try and get the EPSTEIN FILES out of the news. And many people have died. Disgusting. Release the rest of the files.
Excellent points. And more: Russia is winning through this war -- by the resulting oil price increases and even Trump's lifting of oil sanctions, all of which gives them more money to fight Ukraine and to rebuild their economy. Plus: by Trump's feigning negotiations and then striking Iran, our country has now lost all credibility in future attempts at negotiating a settlement. Putin even claimed that this shows that because of that, the U.S. can't be trusted in its Ukraine negotiations either.
The sheer stupidity of this war stuns me. All other issues aside, millions of Iranians clearly want freedom from an oppressive religious regime. There must be hundreds of small ways of empowering them to bring about regime change. It is THEIR nation. They are the experts. And now, because of a mentally ill, demented President and a “DRUNKSEC” (as Rick Wilson refers to Hegseth) whose skills are limited to talking like a video game avatar, they are farther away from this promise than they have been in many decades. That is a human tragedy. That is on us.
Who woulda thunk that a swaggering, psychologically-immature Republican male would get us involved in an ill-conceived war in the Middle East.
Dude probably shoulda asked Colin Powell if this was a good move or not.
Or had a seance and asked him.
What is wrong with you--you crazy bastard. We the US citizens are paying the bill for the "excursion" (as you called it), but you will not or cannot give any straight explanation for this dumb ass move? Did you even think this through? I don't care what the Russians or the Chinese or the Israelis or the Iranians are saying. You are being used/manipulated by all of the aforementioned parties. F__ing wake up--you sleepy, ignorant, arrogant, evil bastard. The oil prices are going up and will continue to go up and you blather about "sacrifice"--you never, never served anybody but yourself. F___ and your family and your elite buddies!! God bless America and democracy.
Sounds as tho, like myself, you are experiencing "Epic Rage"!
Well said with feeling and honesty!
Failure to prepare the public—Yes. Failure to prepare the ground—Yes. But let’s just dig in through the aorta to the heart of the matter. This war is and will be a total failure.
The numerous deficiencies in planning lead to my conclusion: we are losing the war in Iran. We are depleting our munitions, so when the unexpected happens, our forces will lack the firepower to respond.
Add to these failures: a cavalier attitude toward the possibility (likelihood) of terrorist attacks on American soil (“I guess..”), attacks on troops in the region, uncertainty about our troops on the ground, Russian intelligence assistance to Iran, and the fact that whatever nuclear grade material wasn’t “obliterated” by US attacks last summer is surely scattered and well hidden around a territory twice the size of Texas. All to appease the delusions of a malignant narcissist. And maybe as compensation for whatever monetary benefit he stands to gain by countries longing to see Iran demolished.
I don't see the same bright and shiny outcome projected by Trump & Leavitt & Hegseth. For the more tarnished, bumpy, and painful side of things, read from today's AXIOS:
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/12/iran-mojtaba-khamenei-first-message-trump-israel
Bush's case to us was all lies. It's not "failures of candor on Iraq."
Everything was clear from the beginning...in trmp's own words and actions.
Thanks to maga ignorance, electing a mentally-vacuous grifter, liar, cheat and felon,
trmp's stupid arrogant hubris is unleashing havoc and chaos throughout the world.
How do we ever recover from this ???
my hockey Analogy : while Zednay Chara (6'9") is blasting slapshots after slapshots from the blue line trying to hit the net, Theoren Fleury (5'6") zigs & zags around the offense and defense towards the goalie deeking player after player to get one past the goaltender. Theo is an undersized player who was unlikely to reach greatness in the NHL but he did through tenacity, grit and determination.
💙💙💙