They say generals always want to fight the last war. So too, a lot of pundits always want to protest the last war. Tucker Carlson was one of many journalists who supported the Iraq War but is now an isolationist, unlike his buddies Pat Buchanan and the late Bob Novak, who were always against it, sensing yet another Israeli plot.
To be sure, George W and his team of knuckleheads, like Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Colin Powell, and God help us, David Frum, had no idea what they were getting into in 2003.
President Trump, impressively though, is neither an isolationist nor an international blunderer. If you recall his 2017 inaugural speech, he condemned “forever wars” but also promised to destroy the ISIS terror group running amok during Barack Obama’s tenure.
Trump was successful. He organized local forces in Iraq and Syria to wipe out ISIS with a just a handful of American advisers. He brutally insulted NATO, saying they must do more in the way of defense spending, which is now happening. And unlike Obama, he heeded the call for weapons to Ukraine during his first term, allowing them to fight off the Russian invasion.
Bibi Netanyahu is a lot like Pres. Trump. For 20 years, Israel barely responded to increasing provocations on its borders, having pulled out of South Lebanon and Gaza decades ago.
The foolish Ayatollah and his friends pressed their luck though, forcing his hand with the October 7th raids. The result -- complete destruction of Hezb’allah, Hamas, and the Syrian regime. The Tehran mullahs are now teetering on the edge of oblivion as well. Will they make a deal? I doubt it.
Most dictators are so blinded by their own selfish desires they can’t conceive of making peace after defeat. They die in their bunkers like Hitler, or sometimes they make a jet escape at the last minute, like Idi Amin or Bashar Assad.
With Ayatollah Khamenei 86 years old and sickly, reports are that he has suffered a nervous breakdown and was quietly removed from all decision-making. So, who is left in charge, Jill Biden?
Most likely nobody. The JV team of the Revolutionary Guards may just be arguing among themselves, and none of them has the courage to pick up the phone and call Donald Trump to capitulate.
If they don’t, the B-2s will fly and the bunker busters will eliminate the last remaining nuke site, the highly protected Fordow facility.
After that, we, the Israelis and our many Arab friends with agents on the ground still have some work to do.
First, will be locating any place with enough plutonium or uranium to make a dirty bomb and clearing it out.
Second, we need to make contact and support any opposition groups that might arise. There is a large Kurdish population in the northwest, long at odds with the mullahs; and their heavily armed cousins are just across the border, in Iraq. A Kurdish-led rebellion, if well equipped, could likely deliver the death blow to the Ayatollah’s government.
As I wrote before, Shia Islam has basically been discredited in Iran the last 40 years. There is a thriving underground Christian movement, and most mosques have now been closed. In the future, Iranians will either be Christians, secular Muslims, or traditional Shia -- the non-political kind before the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1970s. The crazies have no future there.
Americans don’t need to make these changes themselves. Just provide weapons and money to the millions of Iranians there, who will do it themselves. Barack Obama could have done this back in 2010 with the Green Movement. Likewise, Joe Biden did nothing in 2022 when the Hijab protests were at their peak. But the third time may be the charm with the President Trump.
Image: AT via Magic Studio