The Day After the Street Party
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| Lindsey Graham stating that it's not Donald Trump's job to plan for the day after in the Iran War. |
The people of this country cheer and dance in the streets. Statues of this tyrant are torn down and destroyed. The invading Americans are at first greeted as liberators by many of this country.
The American government has rightfully pointed out that this regime had violently oppressed its people for decades but is now claiming that it has weapons of mass destruction.
The fighting lasts barely a month. This country’s military is no match for the modern American military in any way.
By now, most of you are figuring out that I am talking about Iraq in March of 2003.
When Saddam Hussein was deposed and overthrown in a month, many Iraqis did at first greet the American military as liberators.
The key words being at first.
Overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime and destroying his system was the easy part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. But soon, American land forces got bogged down in fighting an insurgency.
American commanders were so poorly informed that many did not understand the differences between Sunni and Shia Islam. Nor were they prepared for the inter-religious and ethnic tensions that would cause Iraq to descend into a bloody civil war, and give Al Qaeda, the organization responsible for 9/11, an opportunity to grow and thrive in the chaos of Iraq. What would become the Islamic State nearly conquered Iraq itself during 2014.
Iraq is a country of about 37 million people. Saddam’s military was no match for a NATO or modern Western military.
Trump wants to essentially do a repeat in Iran. A highly mountainous country of around 90 million people and against a far more resilient enemy.
I think it is good that the Supreme Leader is dead. He was a vicious and cruel tyrant who killed tens of thousands of his own people in these last months alone to hold onto power. Not to mention his regime is on record using sexual violence en mass as a weapon of terror. So no tears shed here.
However, I do not trust Trump to do anything but make a bad situation far worse. He has run the American economy into the ground thanks to his trade wars, inflation is rising and so is unemployment. Not to mention he has unleashed ICE on my home and his agents killed two Twin Cities residents. The damage he has done so far is enormous.
So no, I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt despite the fact that I do support the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. He will never get the benefit of the doubt from me whenever he decides to launch a war or any other big project where there is no margin for error.
Most of all, the Islamic Republic is not destroyed. Took a bad hit for sure, but it is still standing.
Once again, authoritarian regimes are systems. Just taking out the head guy in charge does not cause a system to collapse or become more democratic.
I can’t believe that for all of the things that went badly with the American occupation of Iraq, President Bush at least understood the entire regime had to be dismantled and that it was not enough to remove Hussein.
When Trump announced he wants to do regime change in Iran, he essentially announced he wants to try Iraq again in a country of 90 million, against a better equipped and trained security apparatus, and a more resilient regime. With far less support, a distracted security apparatus of our own led by the worst possible appointees, and an American public far less ready to accept servicemen and women coming home either crippled or in flag draped coffins.
Stay safe everyone.
Post Script: American citizens are now stranded in the middle east because the Trump admin did not plan for this at all.