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Answering the 10 most important questions about the Iran war

As the war with Iran approaches the climactic phase, I would expect Americans to have a clear idea of what the fight is about.

Instead, I sense some confusion.

That is unfortunate but understandable.

Donald Trump excels as a cheerleader, not as a teacher or explainer. He’s a man bereft of doubt, who has trouble understanding the uncertainties that haunt the rest of us mere mortals.

And of course, the vast anti-Trump alliance has a stake in sowing confusion.

The president has a mighty voice, but his opponents are just as loud — and they believe that promoting an American catastrophe, if it hurts Trump, would be for the greater good.

So allow me, good reader, to cut through the Trumpian boasts, the fog of war, Democratic hysteria and media falsifications, and offer you simple answers to the 10 most important questions about the Iran war.

1. Why did we attack Iran?

From its birth, when it kept our embassy personnel captive as hostages for 444 days, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been attacking the United States.

Both directly and through terrorist proxies, it has killed thousands of Americans around the world.

Hostility to the Great Satan — that would be us — is the reason for the regime’s existence.

For decades, every week, the ayatollahs have led crowds in chanting “Death to America.” It’s the core of their ideological creed.

Now they are developing thermonuclear bombs and missiles with the range to make their wishes come true.

Past presidents tried economic sanctions against Iran. That was peaceful but ineffective.

Other presidents tried to bribe the Iranians. That was peaceful and extraordinarily stupid.

The peaceful options were exhausted.

The ayatollahs kept working on their bomb.

Nukes plus missiles plus “Death to America” is the reason we attacked.

Victory, not fairness, is the objective of every war.

Combatants rarely wish to be proportionate or sporting. They aim to annihilate the other side as quickly and completely as possible.

We hit the ayatollahs when we did because they were in a vulnerable condition.

Iran had just lost the 12-Day War with Israel.

That ended with the US bunker-bombing two underground nuclear facilities.

That, in turn, was followed by months of anti-regime unrest that paralyzed the country and only ended with the slaughter of tens of thousands of protesters.

We could have waited until Iran picked itself off the ground, got its defenses together, stockpiled more missiles and drones.

But we chose to attack now because Iran was weak.

3. Is this an illegal........

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