America’s Iran war and the real cost of Israel first
Dr. Michael Scheuer and Colonel Mike

With the unconstitutional U.S.-Iran war now underway, one must wonder what possesses those who lead the United States to yearn so obviously to fight wars on Israel’s behalf? The common answers are that Iran is the leading state-sponsor of terrorism and so we must fight it at every turn, or that Iran can create a nuclear weapon almost at a moment’s notice and so we must prevent that possibility. The second point, one would have thought, had been cancelled after Trump’s earlier whiz-bang raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the claim from the White House that Tehran’s nuclear capability had been severely damaged for the foreseeable future. Was that a lie, a miscalculation, or a daydream?

In the weeks before the start of the current war, we watched the United States prepare for war as if it was World War Two, which is understandable as the White House, the Pentagon, and most Americans are members of the World War Two Cult: Carrier task forces, overwhelming numbers of military aircraft, and the self-defeating stench of self-righteousness in the belief of Americans’ that God is on their side and so will assure victory in any war we fight. Quite clearly, the Cult is impenetrable by the fact that America has lost every war it has fought since 1945.

In many ways, the dramatic preparations for war on Iraq seemed almost as if Trump and his advisers thought that the sight of accumulating American power in the region would be enough to make the Iranians plead for mercy. As our guest this week, Luis Quinonez said, “Our leaders seem to think that the sight of our naval armadas and the skies crowded with our planes would be enough to make the Iranians throw in the towel.” Definitely an excellent point, as I am not sure any American has ever seen the Iranians run from a fight.

The depth to which the Cult of World War Two is ingrained in and damaging to the American mind is easily seen in the Iran War. Whereas in World War Two, the U.S. was allied with countries that had been attacked by Japan and/or Germany, today’s war with Iraq finds us allied with, playing the hitman for, and doing the bidding of the gangster-led state of Israel. Netanyahu is as murderous and despicable a creature as can be imagined, and yet he frequently comes to visit American Presidents and give them orders or make threats of blackmail whenever the whim moves him. He also supervises the gaggle of Jewish-American billionaires who have bought the U.S. Congress for Israel to ensure it would never object to any military action or war that was fought on Israel’s behalf. If you doubt this, look up the photo of Senators Graham and Cruz grinning like Cheshire cats after the U.S. attacks began. For the moment, Graham, Cruz, and many of their Congressional colleagues have what they desire most for U.S. foreign policy, the expenditure of vast amounts of American money and untold numbers of American lives for the cause of Israel First.

Whereto from here? Although the war is just a week old, the Iranians appear, with armament help from China and Russia, to be ready for a war to the death. The United States, on the other hand, is fighting another country’s battles in a fight that, in reality, would be no skin off America’s nose if Iran won. Indeed, such a victory would lift a huge weight off America’s shoulders and allow the definition of American interests in the Middle East to focus entirely on the economic realm.

In any event, there probably is not a lot of time before U.S. leaders have to decide if they will conduct a land war in Iran. The U.S. military has already expended a significant amount of ordnance from stockpiles that were described as “inadequate for a long war” before the first shot was fired. But it now appears that the Iranians are ready for a long war, and there is, of course, no shortage of military-age men across the Middle East who probably would be delighted to join a land war against the United States in Iran, notwithstanding that many of them are Sunnis.

It seems cruel to say that some American leaders – in both parties – would support a land war in Iran, but that sadly seems true. After all, there is no cost too extreme to ensure that the American military personnel and tax money are expended lavishly in the name of Israel First, a phrase that just might come to be known as America’s death knell.

America is dying from the inside. Our ruling class treats war like a sport. Presidents promise peace and deliver bombs. Congress shrugs. The Constitution is treated like a napkin. I spent decades watching enemies and allies alike manipulate power. The lesson is simple. War without Congress is theft of our future. War for profit and influence drains our economy and steals our grandchildren’s lives.

We used to expect our leaders to be honest and restrained. Now we see a pattern. Promises are a cover for influence peddlers. Foreign wars are chosen by lobbyists and donors. Intelligence is spun to justify strikes. The media chooses silence when exposure would matter. When we need truth, we get theater.

Worse is the moral rot at home. The failure to protect children and the secrecy that shields predators show a nation that has forgotten common decency. Bureaucrats who hide crimes and shuffle victims across borders are not patriots. They betray everything that once made America respectable.

Security is not only about bases and missiles. Our homeland is vulnerable. Hundreds of hostile actors could exploit porous borders. Two men with rifles can shut down highways and power grids. Sleeping agents in cities are not paranoia. They are a risk we ignore at our peril.

Fixing this begins locally. Go to school board meetings. Vote in county elections. Demand that Congress enforce the Constitution. End the culture of impunity that treats elites as untouchable.

If we do not reclaim governance from corrupt interests, the violence that follows will be the brutal harvest of our neglect. This is not a call to panic. It is a call to act. Act before our liberties are bargained away and before another generation wakes to a country it no longer recognizes. Reclaim your towns. Hold names accountable. The future depends on ordinary citizens standing up now.

Dr. Michael Scheuer is the former Chief of the Osama Bin Laden Unit at the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (1996-1999), and he remained a counterterrorism analyst until 2004. Dr. Scheuer is also a former terrorism analyst for CBS News and author of the books “Marching toward Hell: America and Islam after Iraq,” “Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror,” and “Osama bin Laden.”

Colonel Mike has been a former liaison & contractor in South East Asia for many years. He is also an advisor and businessman with many contacts around the globe. toomikes.com

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