When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? When the person declaring it is Donald Trump. Opinions differ about the wisdom of the President’s activities with respect to Iran. Some observers tell us he is playing four-dimensional chess. Some say it more like checkers with no kings.
What, after all, is he up to? The commentariat proffers several conflicting narratives. The one common thread is the certainty with which these opinions are uttered. Trump is an idiot. Trump is a genius. For those who say that he has thrown in the towel – that Iran has “won” – I’d offer two observations.
First, it is an odd sort of winning a war when your adversary eliminates your navy, air force, most of your air defense capability, large swaths of your stock of missiles and drones along with the industrial capacity to produce them, not to mention two or three levels of your top leadership, all within a matter of days.
Second, anyone who has pondered President Trump’s adventures in foreign policy knows that two things are true of him. He is a constant advocate for peace. He is also waspish when crossed. Just ask Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian terror-lord whom Trump vaporized in a drone attack during his first term. Cast your mind back to last June’s Operation Midnight Hammer, when a fleet of B-2s, supported by a passel of Tomahawk cruise missiles, buried Iran’s three major nuclear sites. Remember what happened to Nicolás Maduro in January? And then, of course, there is the fury of Operation Epic Fury.
