Madness

It was Victor Hugo who stated, "Success is fury; defeat is madness."  

And from the launch of "Operation Epic Fury" on 28 February to a mere three weeks later, I am observing the madness which can seep into a soul when  success is denied and a recalcitrant enemy  sends signal that we can pile it on and we can pile it up,  but there will be no ceasefire agreement.

The latest threat that U.S. bombers will strike a power plant is within the shadow of this event: the release of an Iranian ballistic missile warhead shown in flight at hypersonic speeds which landed on its target in Israel after being launched from 1,400 km distance, and attaining a targeting precision of less than five meters.    

This is turning into a feudal butchery of infrastructure.   But it must be remembered that Iran has an infrastructure which meets the needs of ninety million Iranians.  So target acquisition does not just demolish a power plant; rather, it creates a unique and deadly ripple effect across population groups.  A responsible government must respond to such an attack.  It is a duty.

Iran - has developed their own reciprocal targeting map and it includes Umm al-Houl power site office, Ras Qartas (Raslifan C) power water station,  Al Shuaiba power and water station, Al Tawilah desalination plant, Barakah nuclear power plant, Ris al Khair desalination plant, Al Samra power generation station, and  Al Qaba thermal power plant.

The problem no longer resides within the sterile confines of geo-spatial considerations and satellite imagery, but spills over into deeply troubling questions regarding the nature of infliction of human misery on the innocent. Not every Iranian is involved in her nuclear program, nor missile production.  But millions in the region will be reduced to howling masses of indescribable need if our playbook turns the page on Iran's playbook.

Problematic, is how Cabinet Secretary Scott Bessent has announced that there may be fifty days of escalation to achieve de-escalation with Iran.   He is imagining this as an inverse correlation as opposed to a direct correlation.   Iran has made it very clear.  We strike them - they strike back: apples to apples and oranges to oranges.   The IRGC will not hesitate to create lasting and irreversible destruction to energy and water resource allocations and infrastructure across the region.  Sure.  We can make them suffer.  They will make damn sure that our allies suffer too.  (Did I mention that the Arab mind has the capacity for a memory bank which we scarcely understand?)

So when we say "We" it is important we include "Them" - the vulnerable Gulf States which will bear the brunt of the response for any of our attacks on Iran's energy sectors.

The fury we unleashed for success is reduced to the madness of defeat.  Our POTUS thought that war is about negotiations.  The art of the deal.  Far from it.  This is not about a business deal.  War is about management.  That management includes accurate, empirical intelligence data which speaks to the urgency of a necessary war as opposed to a war which perhaps was not needed (at this moment in time) and is now reduced to a dangerous game of brinkmanship.