The above could have been written yesterday. It is in the first chapter of my book and refers to Bill Clinton’s attacks on Serbia in 1999. Like the current bombing of Iran, the war on Serbia was entirely launched from the air. It lasted from March to June and was undertaken without authorization from Congress. There were no American casualties. No boots on the ground.

So Iran is not entirely a new affair. The Executive Branch can now do whatever it decides. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, it would have been an impeachable offense for POTUS to order American armed forces to attack another country on his own authority. Nowadays, it has become almost commonplace. 

Speaking of Pearl Harbor, Trump joked about it in his meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister yesterday when asked about the U.S. surprise attack on Iran. “We wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” So by implication, the attack on Pearl Harbor was justified. Indeed, from the Japanese point of view it was.

President’s Rosevelt's whole Far East policy was predicated on bringing about a war with Japan, the “back door to war”. German troops were on the outskirts of Moscow. Roosevelt needed to come to Stalin’s rescue. 

There were negotiations going on in Washington between Japan and the U.S., but those were a sham, set up to fail by the White House. When this became obvious, Tokyo ordered the Pearl Harbor attack. Japan was fast running out of raw materials due to the American embargo.

Similarly, in the current conflict, negotiations supposedly to prevent war were ongoing in Geneva between Iran and the U.S. But those negotiations about nuclear issues were a sham to lull Iran into a false sense of security so that a sneak attack by Israel and the U.S. could better succeed, which it did. 

Iran’s head of state, who remained in his residence, and many of Iran's top leaders were assassinated. This is an Israeli speciality. Trump is in lock step with it. Trump’s offhand comments and especially those of his war secretary Pete Hegseth are unusually bloodthirsty and strange. 

What is America gaining from this predatory attack on Iran? Nothing. In contrast, Roosevelt’s machinations gained world dominance for America after the war and most importantly the U.S. Dollar became the world’s reserve currency. And no more economic competition from Germany or Japan. In retrospect, establishment historians justify Roosevelt’s mendacity and applaud it as brilliance.

So far in the current war, Trump has only achieved more problems for the U.S. and the world. He is not telling the truth most of the time, but unlike Roosevelt, the untruths become apparent in real time, not years later. A headline from Reuters today: “Iran war boosts Netanyahu, bruises Trump and Gulf states”. 

Indeed, Netanyahu and Israel are on a roll. Thanks to Trump and his predecessors, America’s national interests and those of the West generally have been subordinated to Israel. This craven war on Iran is the crowning achievement. It takes the spotlight off of the Gaza genocide, the ongoing West Bank atrocities, and opens the door to Israel’s land grab to half of Lebanon. 

As John Mearsheimer has stated, “The U.S.-Israel relationship is unprecedented in world history.”