Iran has been at war with us for decades
With fortuitous timing just days after the start of U.S. military operations in Iran, hundreds of Central Ohioans heard first-hand insights about U.S. foreign and military policy at the most recent New Albany Lecture Series event. The featured speakers — invited last year — were former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
I typically avoid forming strong opinions about nascent foreign and military policies. That’s not because I don’t have my own views about such matters. Rather, the level of secrecy required for effective policymaking in those domains necessarily means that no one outside the briefing room truly knows the full story. Speculation based on incomplete information is a weak foundation for a well-informed opinion.
So the opportunity to converse with those who’ve been in the White House situation room was particularly enlightening. They both served President Trump in his first administration. However, given that the president fired McMaster after a year and revoked Pompeo’s security clearance at the start of his second term, neither is likely a sycophantic mouthpiece for Mr. Trump now.
Both are impressive public servants, however. McMaster graduated from West Point and retired as Lieutenant General from the U.S. Army after 34 years of service. He also earned a PhD in military history from UNC Chapel Hill and has written several books.
Pompeo graduated first in his class from West Point and served in uniform for five years before graduating first in his class from Harvard Law School. He was elected to Congress three times before becoming CIA Director and then Secretary of State.
Their credentials don’t mean they’re right. It does mean they know more than most and the audience was fortunate to hear from them. Along with similar programming at Ohio State, my family is one of the sponsors of this lecture series as part of our long-standing commitment to civil discourse initiatives.
I’ve had the honor of meeting and speaking with many leaders of our armed forces over the years and the achievements and qualifications of McMaster and Pompeo, while notable, aren’t the exception. Every one of them has been smart, thoughtful, highly educated, incredibly accomplished, and committed to our nation. Whatever our political perspectives, we should all be grateful for their service and comforted that our military attracts, trains, and promotes such excellence.
Our guests agreed that the theocratic rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been in a de facto state of war with the U.S. and our allies since its inception 47 years ago. And their incessant chants of “death to America” have never been hollow.
In 1979, they seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding American diplomats hostage for 444 days, humiliating the hapless President Jimmy Carter. Their violence against the U.S. continued four years later when Iran financed the Hezbollah suicide bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members in Lebanon. Iranian-made improvised explosive devices — IEDs — killed and maimed hundreds of U.S. servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the Iranian regime attacked American troops 83 times during the Biden administration.
Iranian oil profits bankrolled Hezbollah’s largely successful destabilization and Islamification of Lebanon, which was once known as the prosperous “Switzerland of the Middle East.” They also supported Syria’s dictator Assad as he murdered as many as 500,000 of his own citizens, including with the use of chemical weapons.
Iran’s economic and military aid to Hamas led directly to the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel — the largest mass murder of Jews since WWII — and the war that followed. And their financing of the Houthis in Yemen sparked a civil war that’s killed nearly 400,000 and brought violent piracy to shipping lanes for as much as 12% of international trade flows.
Despite claims by supporters of President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, the jihadist death cult that rules Iran never gave up their quest for nuclear weapons and the military means to protect and deliver them. Eleven years ago, then Senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio accurately predicted Iran’s behavior following Obama’s disastrous deal.
The Biden administration was even more feckless. In addition to tolerating attacks on our troops, they released $6 billion of Iranian funds frozen by the first Trump administration and eased sanctions on Iranian oil exports worth another $32-35 billion, 80 - 90% of it bound for China.
In short, Iran has been the world’s largest supporter and exporter of terrorism for decades. Every president for the past half century has claimed a commitment to stop them yet none has done so. Only now has one — Trump — been willing to honor his pledge with action. Whether that decision is bold or reckless remains to be seen.
McMaster and Pompeo, along with the dozen or so other former members of our military with whom I spoke, know the horrors of war firsthand. This is not merely an academic discussion as many of us have family or friends still on active duty, as do I. The recent loss of an American KC-135 tanker (not to enemy fire) hit’s home as it was assigned to the 121st Air Refueling based at Rickenbacker on the SE side of Columbus. Three of the six crew members killed were from Central Ohio.
William Tecumseh Sherman, a Union general from Ohio during the civil war, reminded us that war is hell. But history teaches that peace isn’t merely the absence of war. It’s the product of the clarity to see threats, the strength and willingness to act, and the sacrifices necessary to thwart barbarism before it spreads too far to stop.
Trump’s decision to act against the threat posed by Iran follows the January 3 capture by U.S. special forces of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Maduro’s narco-terrorism not only helped destabilize American cities but also literally fueled China — supplying roughly 20% of their oil needs. His government was also the largest supplier to Cuba and provided a beachhead for Russian interests just 90 miles from Florida. Because of Trump’s willingness to act, all of those dangers have now changed — likely in favor of U.S. interests.
And despite Trump’s often bizarre rhetoric around taking over Greenland and insulting long-standing NATO allies in an effort to convince them to pony up for their own defense, both moves have produced some results. Greenland and Denmark agreed to a new framework for expanded U.S. and NATO military access to protect against Arctic ingress from Russia and China.
European elites fantasized of a post WWII windmill-powered socialist welfare paradise subsidized by U.S. taxpayers but still reliant on Russian oil and gas. Trump rudely interrupted those naïve dreams with the reality that the world remains a dangerous place. While we’ll still be Europe’s strongest ally, we won’t continue to be just a withdrawal-only military ATM.
None of us know for sure how the Iran conflict will end — even the best plans are obsolete after the first shot is fired.
Trump’s staunchest supporters insist his geopolitical moves are part of some 4D chess match only he understands. Critics claim he’s a despotic narcissist who only cares about enriching and aggrandizing himself. I’ve never bought into either characterization as both give him too much credit of forethought.
The calmer critique of history may view Trump’s noisy approach to foreign policy as consequential nonetheless. But only time — and the consequences that follow — will determine whether his actions advanced peace or invited new dangers.
Grander thoughts like these were in the air during the discussion with McMaster and Pompeo. And, as our time with them drew to a close, one insight resonated deeply. In matters of war and foreign policy, what historians may one day perceive as a grand strategy — or colossal miscalculation — often begins as individual judgments formed in the shifting pressures of the moment.