On Easter morning the president came out swinging with a scorching ultimatum. If the Strait of Hormuz was not open by today, which he calls “Power Plant Day, and “Bridge Day,” he promised to unleash hell on civilian infrastructure.
“There will be nothing like it!!!” Sounding more like a bar room brawler than a statesman, he wrote on Truth Social last week, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in hell–JUST WATCH.”
At tonight’s draconian deadline, Americans will get a true sense of how messy this Iran war is going to get. Since the president has given frequent and ever-changing ultimatums to the Iranian regime it’s hard to guess where he’s going to land when it comes to following through on his latest threat to wreak havoc.
Surely, he knows that he’s not going to make many friends in Iran by blowing up the bridges they need to walk to their marketplace. Under the long-accepted rules of war destroying strictly civilian infrastructure may even be a war crime. But tell that to the people living in Gaza or southern Lebanon or Kyiv. The fact that some noble treaty outlaws certain conduct doesn’t make much difference on the ground if your bridge is blown up.
Trump must have figured that if he inflicts enough pain and suffering on the Iranian people, they will have no choice but to overthrow their predatory government. That Regime in Tehran commits war crimes daily. The failed uprisings in December and January show beyond any doubt, that the people of Iran are sick of repression and exploitation. That didn’t translate into a successful uprising. Thousands of innocent Iranian civilians were massacred when they heeded the call of Reza Pahlavi the late Shah’s oldest son among others to rise against the regime. Many did. They were cut down.
What should we do about it?
In 2003, remember how shady the evidence was that Saddam Hussein in Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? It was laughable. The WMD’s were nonexistent. Yet most politicians including the Clintons went along with President George W. Bush. Essentially, we went to war in Iraq in 2003 under false pretenses. The evidence against Iran in 2026 is clearer. The Regime has been reaping chaos and mayhem since the ignominious hostage-taking in 1979 and the Marine Barracks slaughter in Beirut in 1983.
.Historians and journalists will ultimately unearth why this war with Iran happened when and how it did. What role did the failed uprising play? Did Israel help drag us into another Mideast quagmire? But now, as in 2003, there comes a time when Americans must pick a lane. Our servicemen and women deserve our support. If the Commander-in-Chief insists on taking them and us to war against Iran, then God forgive me, however dubious his bluster I back Trump. The Regime must go.
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