Originally published via Armageddon Prose:

Following an attack on U.S. military assets in Jordan — allegedly conducted by militias allegedly sponsored by Iran (let’s not take the government’s word for anything) — Morning Joe Scarborough and his sidepiece, Mika (nepo-daughter of notorious neocon Zbigniew Brzezinski), while interviewing White House war propagandist John Kirby, brow aesthetically well-furrowed to convey earnest resolve, had some fighting words for Iran:

“Morning Joe: I think a lot of Americans want to know: if the Iranians continue to sponsor attacks that kill Americans, that wound Americans, that cause serious problems for Americans and undermine American interests in the region, at what point do we actually go after the source of the attacks, Iran, and strike them where they are?

Kirby: Well, I think that I certainly understand Americans’ concern over these repeated attacks by groups that are backed by Iran, Joe… We’re gonna respond. We’ll do that. Obviously, we have three American families that got the worst possible news over the weekend… We’ve got to do what we have to do to protect our troops and our facilities… We know Iran’s backing these groups… We gotta do what we have to do.”

Speaking from the White House podium earlier today, Kirby further refused to rule out a strike on Iranian soil, nor would he agree to consult Congress pursuant to Constitutional requirements before launching such an attack that would inevitably lead to regional and likely world war.

Here’s a novel concept: how about, if the goal is reducing American troop deaths in the Middle East, the government simply removes them from the Middle East and sends them home — like to the bleeding border, perhaps — instead of cynically using their deaths to create more war, which will lead to more troop deaths, which will then be used to create more war?

Of course, though, waging peace won’t pad the bottom line of Nikki Haley’s benefactor, Boeing, nor would it enhance the power of the national security state. So that’s dead in the water.

These people — Morning Joe and his sidepiece and the vaunted Admiral John Kirby with the furrowed brow of patriotic vigilance — are adult children meddling with forces they do not understand, made even more dangerous by an endowment with a god complex, as they are never truly challenged by any independent media. They exist in their own ivory towers of hubris, insulated from the kinetic consequences of their decisions.

The major moral hazard here is that these people will incur no direct cost to their health or their finances from starting a new war any more than they did with any of the prior wars they started. It won’t be them or their kids that die. In fact, it’s all upside, as their weapons contractor stocks will spike tremendously.

A one-on-one war with Iran would be nearly impossible to win (however “victory” is defined). Mere regime change — running a coup — is not enough to declare victory, as evidenced by the colossal failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, the former of which birthed ISIS and the latter of which saw the Taliban walk right back through the door into power twenty years later, picking up right where it left off in 2001, trillions of dollars and thousands of dead U.S. soldiers later, as the corrupt and despised Afghani military the US government propped up, armed to the teeth with hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment, folded like a cheap lawn chair at the first hint of a stress test.

Sad!

Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.

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