Wm. Tecumseh Sherman, Union General in the American Civil War marched through Georgia and South Carolina with a vengeance. He left a path of utter destruction in his wake sending the unmistakable message to the populations left behind - the South shall never rise again.
President Harry S Truman of the United States authorized dropping the atom bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, laying them to waste. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died in the nuclear holocaust, and Emperor Hirohito finally surrendered. As importantly, the Soviet Union knew what was in store for them if they continued their territorial ambitions.
The United States carried out a firebombing of Dresden, Germany to hasten the end of the war. Like Hiroshima, the city was laid waste - a smoking rubble after American warplanes departed. The lesson was clear - no one is safe. Civilian casualties not only were not to be avoided, they were part of the calculus. If the Germans understood that the Allies had no mercy in their single-minded pursuit of victory, they would think twice about resistance.
The Israeli Defense Force has been no different. In each and every one of the wars begun by its Muslim neighbors Israel has held nothing back. Wars are for winning, not for some fractious, temporary peace. Gaza has been reduced to rubble to ensure that Hamas would never again threaten the Jewish state. Israel's attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon have been no less decisive.
When American President Obama realized that Iran - sponsor of Middle East terrorism, implacable enemy of Israel was developing a nuclear weapon, he made a deal encouraging the mullahs to agree to cease the production of military grade fissionable material, and to stop the development of its nuclear program for ten years. In return, Iran would be welcomed back into the commonwealth of nations.
Because the treaty said nothing about Iran's support of its terrorist clients Hamas and Hezbollah, the regime continued its military and financial support for its clients and in so doing destabilized the region and threatened the nation of Israel.
Iran has always had a long-term perspective - the establishment of a world Islamic caliphate would take time. The ten year moratorium was nothing and during that short period it would be able to continue its nuclear program. In short the United States got exactly nothing from the treaty. Donald Trump had to authorize strikes on the country's nuclear facilities to destroy them once and for all; and expanded military action to decimate the terrorist-sponsoring theocratic regime.
At first it looked like the campaign would be over quickly. The ayatollah was laid to rest, the headquarters of the regime destroyed and its offensive and defensive capabilities neutralized. But Iran was more canny, resilient, and determined than ever before. Thanks to its strategic deployment of missiles and drones throughout the country making complete destruction impossible, Iran fought back. Then using its control over the critically important Strait of Hormuz, it put additional pressure on the United States.
Facing increasing pressure from his own constituents and his party facing election in a few months, he took his foot off the gas and pursued a peace treaty, at this writing about to be signed.
It like Obama's treaty 'assures' that Iran will give up its military nuclear program but says nothing about its role as the sponsor of international terrorism. In short, Iran got everything - the end of American and Israeli bombing, secured missiles and drones in underground silos, nothing about the draconian and murderous treatment of dissidents, and billions of dollars in exchange for 'peace'.
It will rebuild its infrastructure, keep pumping and shipping oil, gradually rebuild its nuclear capacity, and help Hamas rearm and return to offensive strength. Who won the war? Iran did.
Israel is unhappy, for they know and understand Iran's intentions. President Netanyahu encouraged Trump to finish the job, to lay waste to the country, to destroy it and send it the Sherman lesson - try this again, and you will be incinerated; but Trump demurred, perhaps wanting to go down in history as the peace president not The Destroyer.
A serious mistake, and Netanyahu is livid. What started off to be a decimating conclusion to Iran's violent ambitions has turned into a giveaway. Israel is no safer than it was before the war. Perhaps with the serious destruction of much of Iran's military capacity and the neutralization of Hamas there will be a peaceful interregnum, but Iran will come back as destruction-minded and hateful as ever.
The criticism of America is that it is idealistic, short-sighted, and insistent on its moral exceptionalism. It fought the Taliban in Afghanistan to a stalemate and then gave up. The Taliban now rule the country with the same theocratic oppression as Iran.
The US attacked Iraq but quit once the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled and the people cheered. Rather than establish long term uncompromising military rule assuring that no terrorist cells would proliferate, the US went home and the results are clear. Iraq is as far from the democratic idyll of the Middle East that Bush promised than ever.
The United States could have won the War in Vietnam, but insistent on 'winning the hearts and minds' of the people, let up its military action and allowed both the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars to consolidate their control of the South. Ho Chi Minh laughed at American policy, dug in deeper, intimidated villagers to compliance, and showed a guerrilla warfare brilliance. And America let this happen. We are too humane to destroy the country a la Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Iran is a student of history - as it should be after thousands of years of the Persian Empire and regional dominance - and understands that America is a patsy. It is Israel that the mullahs fear, not the United States.
Soon enough Israel will act on its own, defiantly protective of its political sovereignty and its mission of post-Holocaust Jewish survival.
Neville Chamberlain said that he was pursuing 'peace at any price' and in so doing capitulated to the barbaric Nazi regime and encouraged Hitler and his Nazi Anschluss. Churchill warned Chamberlain, but he did not listen.
Churchill also saw clearly the Soviet threat and insisted on taking strong action against it now that it had been weakened by World War II. General MacArthur urged incursion into China to stop what was obviously Mao's intention to rule Asia, but he was fired by Truman for saying so. As a result, China kept up its hegemonic intentions and the ultra Communist state of North Korea was formed and allowed to rule.
Donald Trump gave away the store, and Israel is left to clean up the mess. Iran will be back and another war will be fought. The time for complete, ultimate Dresden-Hiroshima-Nagasaki victory has come and gone.
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