The Price of War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” remains a classic. It tracks the lives of a number of people over a lengthy period of time. War and Peace can only be viewed with the perspective of time.

President Trump has declared the war with Iran “over.” It is no accident that neither Trump nor anyone else has been specific as to what the terms of that peace are. The reason for that is that no one really knows for sure. All sides have their own reason for being vague, indecisive, and deceptive to their population.

What we do know is that the Strait of Hormuz is opened which will mean that the heroin-like addictive supply of oil will flow to the world’s users. We also know that the opening of the Strait of Hormuz will enrich the terrorist regime in Iran which has been effective at undermining the United States and the free world since the late 1970s.

While President Trump is partly to blame for the confusion and indecisiveness of the war with Iran, he is not alone. Presidents from Jimmy Carter onward have been neutered by fear, resistance of the American people to confront the monsters of Iran, and they have all been captive to dangerous and ineffective oil politics.

We do not know whether Iran will continue with uranium enrichment and whether the uranium which they previously enriched will ever be found. What we do know is that Iran and its agents abroad outwardly proclaim their intention to destroy their neighbors, our allies, and ultimately the United States. There is no mystery about the intentions of Iran. All we have to do is listen to them.

It appears that Iran will continue to occupy Lebanon, once a thriving Muslim/Christian semi-democratic nation, Gaza, parts of Syria, and most of Yemen.  These are incubators, training grounds, for terrorists whose blatantly stated purpose is to destroy the West and to impose fundamentalist Islam on a naïve world.

Does the end of the war in Iran include decoupling Iran’s billions in oil money from its terrorist proxies including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis? The answer is unquestionably “no.”

Hezbollah, which as noted above holds Lebanon hostage, congratulated Iran on its victory against the West. Hezbollah looks forward to the day when it will have more sophisticated weaponry with which to terrorize not only America and more peaceful regimes in the Middle East, but also Western leaning nations throughout the world.

The end of the war is nothing more than a respite for the enemies of the democratic West. What of American allies, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and others? They will all live in uneasy peace, seeking to benefit financially from what is essentially an elongated truce, and they will prepare for the next round in the ongoing conflict between Iran and the interests of the United States.

The question, not discussed in public, but which clearly needs to be answered is whether the war was worth it, what gain was there to the United States and its Western allies, and what do we do to prevent Iran hegemony in the future? Donald Trump, in his blunderbuss style, believes that wealth is the answer to all problems.  As we know, people who win the lottery usually wind up worse off in terms of their personal lives.

The money that will flow into the Middle East from the sale of oil and from world economic gain will have two effects. From the point of Iran, it will permit that nation to fund anti-American, anti-Western behavior throughout the world, which includes Africa and Asia. Black people, Christians, and others, not just the United States, will suffer from the unwillingness of the United States and the European West to put an end to the Iranian regime.

Iran was on the cusp of losing its leadership and its steerage in world politics.  However, in the US midterm election fears, polling, the hard right in the Republican Party and extreme left in the Democratic Party, terrified Donald Trump and other serious decision makers in the United States and the West. Even Secretary of State Mark Rubio, who is one of the brighter lights in this Administration, was forced to stand down. Rubio knows the truth. He knows that Iran is a multi-headed monster whose goals are inimical to the values of the west.

In the United States, hatred of Donald Trump for his erratic personality and obnoxious behavior caused the Democrats to oppose any reasonable effort to contain Iran. At the same time, the Democratic base has been consistently weakened by those who neither understand nor are willing to work and sacrifice for the American dream.

Let us not forget that prior to Pearl Harbor, most Americans, both political parties, were willing to sacrifice Europe and the rest of the world to the German Nazis and to Imperial Japan. Before Pearl Harbor, the American Congress barely passed a new draft bill, to help rebuild our military forces. Many in this country believed that the end of World War II would mean the end of war. That is like saying that the end of the Holocaust, and the murder of all Europe’s remaining Jews, would terminate antisemitism. Well, as we know, that did not happen, and antisemitism is as strong as ever.

The war against Iran, and against terrorism generally, cannot be seen as a total abysmal failure. In fact, the terrorists understand that the United States, Israel, reasonable Arab states, and even some Europeans will be watchful. They understand the military power possessed by those who believe that preservation of democracy is a goal worth working for. What fundamentalists seeking the destruction of the United States and allies do believe, however, is that democracy is always weak, misdirected, and can easily be bought off with money. Unfortunately, they are not totally wrong about that.

What the bad guys do know, however, is that when the democratic West, and its allies, are aroused from their slumber, they are capable of fighting, winning, and even preserving the peace.

The war with Iran is technically over, because Donald Trump says so, but the challenges presented by that regime and by others who hate Western values are continuous. We need to have a strategy which keeps nuclear weapons, missiles, and drones out of the hands of those who cannot be trusted to respect Western values and lifestyle.

As to Israel, it will continue to have a jittery peace with so-called “moderate” regimes in the Middle East. However, let us remember that some of those so-called moderate regimes such as Qatar have funded hate America programs throughout our educational structure. Without question, it is only Israel which loves and respects the United States. Anyone who has traveled to the Middle East will know that beyond peradventure.

Like Tolstoy, we are witnesses to generations of war and revolution. Hopefully, we will be able to benefit from what we have seen, what we know, and the danger we have come to appreciate from those who Hate America First.