Six days after the Muslims attacked America on 9/11/2001, President George W. Bush spoke at the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. and declared Islam a religion of peace. I could not know, at the time, that the imbecile actually believed this. By November, American forces were in Afghanistan, and I had not yet come to any conclusion.
Both Iraq and Afghanistan are rather small fish, but Iran is a larger, far more dangerous, beast. So, in 2003 when G.W. Bush sent the American army into Iraq, "a thrill went up my leg". The bullshit over weapons of mass destruction always seemed like a ruse to me (there were good reasons to attack, so why the bullshit?), but you have only to look at a map to know why the thrill. Iraq is to the west of Iran, Afghanistan is to the east of Iran, and the U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed in Bahrain, putting a powerful Navy to the south of Iran.
In other words, G.W. Bush surrounded Iran on three sides, and I was sure G.W.'s real purpose was clear. I expected to wake up one morning to the news that Marines were in Qom hanging ayatollahs and the Army was sweeping up the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) across the country while special teams were dismantling Iran's nuclear facilities which, quite unlike Saddam's vaporous WMD's, have a distinctly concrete existence.
To my bitter disappointment, none of that happened because the imbecile actually believed, and may still believe for all I know, that Islam is a religion of peace. If you base your strategies on stupid ideas, you are bound to be disappointed in the outcomes. In due course, Barack Obama became president and Iran is now a global disaster waiting to happen. (Although the Iranians are not waiting for anything. They are busy bees building up their nuclear capabilities.)
Which brings us to President Donald J. Trump, who just announced a new military initiative in Afghanistan.
No words, fit for polite company, come to mind to describe sixteen years of wasted blood and treasure in a place of no strategic value to America, and Trump appears to be doubling down. Unless Afghanistan is not the point.
Of course, G.W. and Barack had smart generals, too, but they were not about listen to their generals. They had IDEAS. But, if Donald Trump is not G.W. or Barack, and if he listens to the impressive James Mattis, his defense secretary, we might just wake up one morning to the news of American Marines in Qom.
That's my Christmas wish. That's my geopolitical pipe dream.
