CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Iran May Be Today, But Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring

Photograph Source: Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Brann – Public Domain

Hey, Donald Trump couldn’t have made it clearer that he wanted to go to war with Iran, could he?

You would think that even he wouldn’t have been dumb enough to start a war with that country, given the U.S. record of (not) winning wars anywhere on Earth since World War II ended 80-plus years ago, not to speak of his repeated promises, when running for office again in 2024, that, unlike just about every president in recent times, there would be “no new wars,” not all-American ones anyway, once he was back in office — nope, nowhere on Earth. (Whew! That was a lot to get into a single Trumpian sentence!)

As “our” president bragged after his first term in 2023, “I was the only president in modern history who did not have any new wars.” (Okay, he did indeed fight ISIS for a while in Syria, but that, at least, was a passing moment.) And yet, just in case you missed it, here’s what he said relatively recently about Iran when questioned by an interviewer about the possibility of sending U.S. troops there: “I absolutely feel that, yes, I don’t think there’s any question.”

Oh, wait, excuse me, I got confused (something that does happen to 82-year-olds). He actually said that in — yes! — 1980. Can you believe it? Admittedly, at that time, Iran was holding some U.S. diplomats and other Americans prisoner. Still, how strange that it’s actually been on his mind for quite so long and, of course, in 1980 he wasn’t president of the United States yet and so couldn’t put his passing thoughts into action. Now, of course, he is, a second time around and so… sigh… he has indeed gone to war with that country (no matter that Iran hasn’t held a U.S. diplomat in almost half a century)…........

© CounterPunch