Washington’s objectives for launching the war in Iran are far from clear.

 

 

Thought for the day: This is an excerpt from an article published in Foreign Affairs.

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BYSTANDER’S DILEMMA

By COLIN H. KAHL, Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and served as U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy from 2021 to 2023.

Washington’s objectives for launching the war in Iran are far from clear. The Trump administration started the war with the stated goal of regime change. “Take over your government,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social on February 28. “This will be probably your only chance for generations.” Yet in the days since, administration officials have been all over the place. Is the goal to select a more “acceptable” government, as the United States did in Venezuela? Is it “unconditional surrender”? Is it to destroy the nuclear program? Or is it simply to leave whoever survives incapable of projecting military power and declare victory? Clearly defining objectives matters because achieving regime change, behavior change, ending Iran’s nuclear program, and degrading Iran’s ability to project power are not variations on the same goal. They require fundamentally different wars, with different resources, timelines, definitions of victory, and postconflict planning.

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Trump hasn't a clue what he's doing or why, and Congress is dangerously absent, lost in a paralysis caused by fear of his backslap if they hold him accountable. We and the rest of the planet are in a tailspin, an aviation term for a dangerous predicament that will be fatal if not brought under control.

Sandspur