Harsh War Realities

The Controversy over the War

It’s remarkable. In Israel, where people are being killed and injured and economically harmed as a result of this war, there is broad support for it, across all party lines. In Iran, where innocent people are getting harmed in all kinds of ways by the Israel and US attacks, there is nevertheless overwhelming support from the people for these attacks by Israel and the US. Yet in the US and other countries, on the other hand, while this war is seen by some as obviously just and important and successful, it is seen by others as equally obviously unjust and unnecessary and disastrous. I think that there are a few reasons for this disparity.

One obvious reason is partisanship. The USA has become so partisan that for many people, the involvement of Trump consciously or subconsciously predetermines their views. If you’re devoted to him, he can do no wrong; if you hate him, he can do no right.

A second reason is a lack of understanding of the nature of war, born from lives that have only known comfort, and with little study of armed conflict. There were two striking examples of this.

One is the hit on the girls’ school on Iran. It’s not entirely clear how this happened; there’s lots of propaganda put out by both sides. But, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that it was a US missile. For some, this is clear evidence that the US is wrong in prosecuting this war. Innocent children were killed. It’s a war crime!

The reality of large scale conflict, however, is that such things inevitably happen. There are always mistakes. There are even always crimes. Among the Allied Forces, plenty of war crimes were committed in WWII. But it’s certainly not a goal of the US to massacre civilians! And thus a mistake, or even a crime, by the US does not remotely affect the legitimacy of the war. The focus should instead be on the Iranian regime, which actually does have the goal of killing innocent civilians; today they are firing cluster missiles all over Israel, as part of their genodical goal of destroying the country.

Another example is with the Iranian warship Dena, which was sunk by a US submarine on its way back from a joint international exercise in India. For some, this is proof of the illegitimacy of the Trump administration’s war. Destroying an unarmed ship participating in an exercise?! Leaving the sailors to drown?!

The reality, however, is otherwise. First, the ship was most certainly armed; the exercise required the weapons to be kept inactive, but after the exercise, the ship was armed and combat-ready with anti‑ship missiles, surface‑to‑air missiles, a 76 mm naval gun, and torpedo launchers. Second, even if it wouldn’t have been armed, it was a warship sailing under the Iranian flag into a zone of combat between the US and Iran! They had the option to claim themselves as a non-combatant and sail to a neutral port, and they chose not to do so. The ship was absolutely a legitimate target.

A third reason for the divergence of views on the war is that some people are focused on evaluating the perfection, or rather the lack thereof, of the war. A war should be fought with a clear strategy for permanent satisfactory accomplishments. And it’s far from clear that this war can achieve all the desired goals. Given the lack of organized and armed opposition in Iran, it’s unlikely that regime change will take place. And there will be numerous negative effects of this war, from rising oil prices to an increase in hatred towards Jews, who are presented by the Vice-President’s BFF as behind the war and will be blamed for it.

But the perfect is the enemy of the good. The fact is that we’re already in a conflict with a regime that is hell-bent on harming Israel and the US and the West in every way possible, in cooperation with Russia and China, and is steadily enhancing its ability to do that, and is almost at the point where it will be too costly to do anything to stop it (as described in my post Why The War Needed To Happen Now). We were nearly at the point of reaching another country as untouchable as North Korea, but far more aggressive, harmful and dangerous.

And so even if a permanent solution cannot be achieved, even if there are significant negative consequences to this war, it is absolutely right and sensible and crucial to seize the opportunity to at least deliver a crippling blow. Which is certainly being achieved, thanks to the combined forces of Israel and the US.

Israelis, who are more attuned to the nature of the Iranian regime and to the harsh realities of war, are therefore broadly supportive of this war. The same goes for the Iranians who have suffered from the regime. And while the Secretary-General of NATO is applauding Trump’s decision, most leaders would be too weak to take such a step, too eager to appease progressives/ Islamists, or too isolationist. (If the 2028 election is between Newsom and Vance, God help us.) We are very, very fortunate to at least currently have a US adminstration that is fighting alongside Israel in this war, notwithstanding all its shortcomings.