When Stupid Wages War

Donald Trump and his obedient acolyte are the blind leading the blind in Iran

Suppose some shit-for-brains diaper load blundered into an unwinnable conflict in the Middle East — and what if he were aided and abetted by a piss-drunk psychopathic religious fanatic who was so high on his own supply that he imagined it would be over in an afternoon?

No one bothered to ask these questions, because it’s all so crazy. I mean, who would even try such a nutty thing? No one. Not in America, right? Wrong, because here the fuck we are!

And, of course, it was all supposed to be easy. These things are always supposed to be easy. Blow up a few targets, make a tough speech, or two or 22, wave the flag, and everybody is home in time for dinner. Mission accomplished. Cue the cameras. Somebody died? Ignore that shit.

Except wars don’t give a damn about campaign speeches, television ratings, or the fantasies of men who have never had to crawl through the wreckage they created.

The other side gets a vote.

People shoot back. Allies get nervous. Enemies find new friends. Oil prices jump. Markets panic. Ships stop moving. Missiles start flying in directions nobody predicted. Then somebody retaliates for the retaliation that followed the retaliation, and suddenly nobody can remember exactly how the whole goddamned thing started.

And that’s the part these geniuses never seem to understand.

Starting a war is easy. You can do it with a handful of airplanes and one catastrophically stupid decision. Ending one is considerably harder.

We’ve learned that lesson before. Vietnam taught it. Iraq taught it. Afghanistan practically beat us over the head with it for twenty years.

Yet somehow, these chest-thumping political warriors convinced itself that this time will be different. This time the enemy will cooperate. This time the plan will work. This time we’ll be greeted as heroes, because they are testosterone-tough.

And if it doesn’t?

Well, that’s somebody else’s problem.

Except it isn’t.

It’s ours.

Michael J. Scott is a university professor and writer who explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and the future of civilization.