THE WAR IN IRAN IS GOING BETTER THAN YOU THINK

I urge you to read this column from last Wednesday's New York Times by BRET STEPHENS:

Stephens wrote: Most Americans probably don't look back at March 2012--if they remember it at all--and think of terrifyingly high gas prices. In the month when "The Hunger Games" ruled the box office and President Barack Obama was on his way to a comfortable re-election, the price of Brent crude closed the month around $123 a barrel. That would be about $175 a barrel in today's dollars.

As of Tuesday, despite Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on its neighbors' energy facilities, it's hovering around $100, slightly higher than the average inflation-adjusted price since January 2001, roughly $95.

That ought to provide some perspective on the panic over the war in the Middle East. To hear the critics' version of events, an unprovoked and unnecessary attack on Iran, launched at Israel's behest, is already a foreign-policy fiasco that has put the global economy at risk without any clear objective or endgame. As Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told NBC's Kristen Welker over the weekend, "We've never seen this level of incompetence in war-making in this country's history."

Really? Let's take a tour of some of the recent history.

During 1991's Operation Desert Storm against Iraq's Saddam Hussein, a campaign that is widely considered a brilliant military success, the U.S.-led coalition lost 75 aircraft, 42 of them in combat. In this conflict, four manned aircraft have been destroyed, three to friendly fire and one in an accident. Not a single manned plane has yet been lost over Iran.

The U.S. air and land campaign in that operation lasted a full six weeks. Today it's remembered as a lightning-fast war. The current conflict with Iran is less than four weeks old.

In the 1989-90 invasion of Panama, whose military phase lasted a few days, the United States lost 23 soldiers, with 325 more wounded. So far in this war, U.S. losses are 13 dead. Among the more than 230 wounded, most have swiftly returned to duty.

During the Persian Gulf crisis that began with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the U.S. economy went into recession and the Dow fell by about 13 percent before the allied air war began. Since conflict with Iran began last June with Operation Midnight Hammer, the Dow is up by 9 percent as of Tuesday morning.

At the outset of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the United States made a failed decapitation strike against Saddam and his senior leadership, some of whom became leaders of the insurgency. In this war, much of Iran's top leadership was killed on the first day, and there is still no proof of life from the new supreme leader. Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of the current president, has written that if Iran can't prevent the continued assassination of its leaders, "we will lose the war."

Between 1987 and 1988, in the final stages of the so-called tanker war, the Reagan administration reflagged Kuwaiti tankers and had the U.S. Navy escort them out of the Strait of Hormuz. An Iranian mine nearly sank an American frigate. The conflict wound down after the United States sank a handful of Iranian navy ships. This time around, we have destroyed almost all of Iran's navy with no naval losses of our own.

In 1991, Iraq fired roughly 40 missiles toward Israel. Hardly any were intercepted despite the deployment of Patriot batteries there. In this war, Israel is registering an interception rate of 92 percent against more than 400 missiles. Iran's overall rate of fire has dropped from 438 ballistic missiles on the first day of the war to 21 on Monday. Drone fire has also declined from 345 to 75 for the same dates.

In the months leading up to the second Iraq war, the George W. Bush administration made a case based on erroneous information that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. In the current war, there is no question that some 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium lies stashed and buried in Iran--possibly enough, with further enrichment and conversion into uranium metal, for 11 nuclear bombs. If the outrage of the Iraq war is that Saddam didn't have WMD capabilities, is it now supposed to be somehow more outrageous that Iran does?

One of the worst mistakes of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was the attempt by U.S. administrators to remake societies in both countries--well-intended efforts with some noble results that nonetheless were beyond our grasp. In this war, despite some varying rhetoric from President Donald Trump, the goal has been reasonably clear and consistent: Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or other means to menace its neighbors. As for regime change, we hope the Iranian people use the opportunity of their leadership's weakness to seize their own destiny. But we won't do it for them.

The Bush administration had little support from Arab nations during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. Now The New York Times reports, "Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been pushing President Trump to continue the war against Iran, arguing that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign presents a 'historic opportunity' to remake the Middle East." Hopefully, one way in which it can be remade is through a peace treaty between Riyadh and Jerusalem.

In hindsight, the single biggest error of the Gulf War was to end it too soon, before Saddam's forces were thoroughly routed. Trump should not make the same mistake.

I am not blind to the Trump administration's failures in planning, particularly its unwillingness to make a stronger public case for war and get more allies on our side before the campaign began. I am also purposely comparing the war with Iran to past wars of similar scale, rather than our true military fiascos in Vietnam, Korea and the two world wars--in which tens of thousands of Americans died due to poor tactical planning and bad strategy.

Still, if past generations could see how well this war has gone compared with the ones they were compelled to fight at a frightening cost, they would marvel at their posterity's comparative good fortune. They would marvel, too, at our inability to appreciate the advantages we now possess.

Bret Stephens

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Jerry’s Ink

After reading this wonderful column by the great Bret Stephens in last Wednesday’s New York Times, I’ve come to the conclusion that Donald Trump is such a stupid, crude, loathsome thug, a president who lies every time he opens his mouth. Even though the country is at war, most of the media would rather slant their coverage and mislead the public about anything he does.

Shame on them. What happened to the spirit of the great reporters Ernie Pyle. Edward R Murrow, Walter Cronkite , Russell Baker, William Safire, whose only commitment was to the truth

This is what I felt last year when I wrote on Jerry’s Ink

I WANT MY AMERICA BACK

“What’s gone wrong? How did this wonderful country turn mean?”

Oh sure, it’s easy to blame Trump, but there was an ugly spirit in this country that enabled him back in 2016 to kick off his campaign by calling innocent Mexican people thieves and rapists and still get elected.

I remember a documentary I saw a few years ago which showed Lyndon Johnson, soon after Kennedy’s assassination, speaking to Congress and vowing to get Kennedy’s programs passed.

Then the entire Congress – Republicans, Democrats, Independents – stood up and cheered.

If Johnson made that speech today, the Republican side would be sitting on their asses sneering.

If a Republican made a speech, Charles Schumer and Bernie Sanders would be sitting on their asses and rolling their eyes.

Where did it go wrong? Our politicians are dumber than dirt and our people seem to be growing cynical and nasty.

I want my America back.

My America was not about building walls, it was about building lives. My mother, at age 4, came to America with her parents from Naples, Italy, in 1914. At age 14 she worked in a cigar shop, making cigars. At 15 she worked in sweatshop, a doll clothes factory, for 12 hours a day. My grandfather pulled a vegetable wagon through the streets on his back. They joined the Jewish and Irish and German immigrants who were all welcome in this country. There was no ICE to separate children from their parents. Immigrants worked and built this wonderful country. It’s sad that it’s now come to a “piss-ant” president closing the doors to this country to immigrants calling most of them criminals with some of his followers — also children of immigrants — cheering him on.

When I was a kid — 6 or 7 years old — my dad took me to a pre-season exhibition game between the Yankees and the Dodgers at Ebbets Field on the Sunday before opening day. I was a Yankee fan. I loved Joe DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto.

We sat in the bleachers. I think our seats cost 50 cents.

A young rookie, recently called up to the majors for his big chance, came to bat. He was the first black man to play in the majors. His name was Jackie Robinson.

He came up to bat and hit a single. Suddenly everyone in the park got up and gave him a standing ovation. My dad stood up applauding, and he told me to stand up, too. I guess it was the Brooklyn way of saying, “Welcome. You belong here.”

That was America in 1947.

I want my America back.

My America was Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Tip O’Neill – political rivals and good friends who often would close the day toasting each other with a nightcap. They never let politics get in the way of the country and of their friendship.

My America was jukeboxes that played “Earth Angel” and “Sincerely” and Johnny Ray singing “Cry” and Doris Day singing “Secret Love” and the Beatles.

My America was people paying attention to traffic as they crossed the street instead of walking like zombies hypnotized by their telephones.

My America was people respecting the FBI and the local police. And, most of all, respecting each other.

My America was youths fighting each other with fists instead of guns.

My America was movies with real heroes like Humphrey Bogart as Rick in “Casablanca” and the sheriff played by Gary Cooper in “High Noon.”

My America was listening to the radio all night to a disc jockey named Jean Shepherd, who pushed away the fears of the night and taught a whole generation how to laugh and think. How simple, just a voice on the radio…

My America was about good people who were filled with love for each other and for this, the greatest county in the world.

Last night, in bed, I re-read these words and said to myself, . These are the ramblings of an old man who’s living in the past.”

But just before sleep took over I whispered, “I want my America back.”