When all you have is a hammer
The hallmark of the Trump presidencies has been the assertion of raw power. He asserts it and chooses people who will manage their assignments in the same manner. Nowhere is that clearer than in the use of military methods to address international problems. In assessing the situation in the war our president promised he would not conduct, I am reminded of the sayings “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” and “shoot first and ask questions later.”
Iran’s leadership is diversified and fragmented therefore not easily dispatched if they can be dispatched at all. (For how many years did we pursue the Taliban in Afghanistan?) And if there was any inclination to reach an accord on nuclear development, that is gone now.
Is it possible that the president and his advisors did not expect that the Iranians would fight until they died? Could they have possibly believed that Iran and its proxies would not use asymmetric methods and targets? Do the president and his Secretary of “War” expect that raw power will open the Gulf waters to unobstructed shipping? These hard questions just scratch the surface.
The costs of this adventure are not limited. Russia and Iran can now sell their oil and use the profits to meet their military needs in the Ukraine and the Middle East. I hope the president is learning that not every problem is a nail that fits his hammer.