John McWhorter thinks the war in Iran is a bad idea. I think the war in Iran is a bad idea. So what’s there to argue about?
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Quite a lot, it turns out. Despite agreeing broadly that this war is not necessary, on last week’s livestream, John and I could not get on the same page about what is driving the war, the way it’s being prosecuted, and (unsurprisingly) Donald Trump’s capacity for rational and strategic thinking. For example, while John and I agree that decapitating Iran’s leadership will accomplish little in the long run—it will just be replaced by new people with the same beliefs—John says he’s not all that upset about targeted strikes on political figures, like Ayatollah Khamenei. The Ayatollah and his lieutenants were fundamentalist zealots, bad guys who did bad things, including suppressing Iran’s women.
Without disputing the nature of the regime, I can’t get onboard with “targeted strikes” of that kind—a more honest term would “assassinations.” Imagine if that became official government policy (as it has occasionally served as unofficial policy). If we perceive a threat from another country, we drop a bomb on its president? We could not sustain a policy like that without throwing the world into chaos and destroying what legitimacy we have left on the world stage.
That said, I don’t think the war is being prosecuted with a total lack of foresight on Donald Trump’s part, as John does. True, executive messaging shifts from week to week, but this is how Trump does things. And there is sometimes a method to the apparent madness. Moreover, Trump is not running the war by himself. There are serious, experienced, and well-trained military leaders overseeing operations. I have to imagine they’re briefing Trump on what is possible and advisable.
Despite my extreme anxiety about the war and my doubts about its wisdom, I hope Trump succeeds. This war is happening, whether I like it or not (and most of the country joins me in the “not” category). If he mismanages the conflict, it will mean disaster for the region, for the U.S., and for parts of the world that want nothing to do with this war. I pray for a swift and definitive end to the fighting, because the alternative is too gruesome to contemplate.
