Checkmate


On 28 February the IRGC began to issue VHF radio warnings to  ships attempting to travel through the Strait of Hormuz.  EU and UK maritime agencies confirmed these transmissions shortly after our first strike.  Iran used escalation policies and military aggression which brought maritime traffic to a standstill. On 4 March, the IRGC made it official:  The strait was closed to all seafaring vessels.

Iran pulled the Fool's Mate on us in one move - an impossibility, of course. But because our administration was limited by their imagination, unfamiliar with the terrain of the mind - in less than 24 hours, Tehran showed herself to be a Grand Chess Master.

Earlier, I wrote about a stalemate.  But in fact, it was a checkmate within 24 hours of our bombing campaign.  Because what really blew up in our own faces, was the surgical strike against  the Grand Ayatollah.  In a million years, I would have never advised that course of action. And when on the first day, we caused the death of 165 small Iranian girls because of corrupt and outdated Intel, we kind'a sealed our own fate.  

The seventh century made appearance again.  This was the Battle of Karbala.  Husayn was killed. And his heir - a small son - suffered the same fate.  The Shi'a have a long memory.  And within the terrain of the mind the timeline is not as viewed through Western eyes.  Past Islamic history, present realities, and future eschatological considerations occupy the same stage.  When the girls were killed, Karbala edged into the present. Compound eyes - every damn one of them.

It is interesting that the son of Husayn was named Ali al-Akbar.  He carried the name of his grandfather, the fourth Caliph of Islam.  Akbar is a form of "kabir" - or the word "greatest". It is also the 37th name of Allah - as part of a mosaic of ninety-nine names with "one unknown".  There is a lot of romanticism attached to this event.

So when we killed the little girls, we did not destroy mere human flesh.  We resurrected an idea. And Karbala moved center stage into the present.

I watched a 46 second agit-prop video this morning.  Part of the messaging was, "With the weapon of faith and the slogan 'Allahu Akbar' we push our enemy back and humiliate them."  I did not recognize the musical score, but it had the distinct cadence of the galloping of horses hooves.

Jihad begins with the first gallop of the horse. And the horses continue to gallop along.

The attack on the base in Kuwait was a response to our aggression against eastern Bandar Abbas on 27 May.  And so we are left with this:  




And toss in this, for good measure - an Israeli Orbiter Drone shot down over southern Iran:



My thoughts might present as unusual. But since the American chessboard has already suffered a checkmate in one move which included "rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air",  the two above images represent what I am now calling the Pawns of War  on the chessboard.  We are using  pawns.  They lack basic maneuverability to change outcome.

The outcome will change - only when we take the focus off of our expensive pawns, and give greater emphasis to our bishop, knight, and rook class; i.e. our Department of State. That is where the resolution resides.

Tehran is certainly moving their Ministry of Foreign affairs into the most prominent position.  Even now, a high level delegation from Iraq and the Kurdish region is slated to visit Tehran in June.  This delegation, will produce a framework for a future security arrangement between Tehran, Iraq and the Kurds. China is courting... Russia is peeking out from behind the curtain... and who knows what our Gulf allies are thinking.

I love my nation.  Without reserve.  But I believe that our Queen was captured on the first day. Checkmate.  A Fool's Mate in one lousy move. On the one hand, the "queen" represents as the Strait of Hormuz.  But in the truest sense, our "queen" is our Department of State and our foreign policy.  They were cordoned off, captured by the imagination of our POTUS and Pentagon - toppled onto the board.

It is... our loss.

The world is viewing us through a very different lens today than that of 27 February.  So because I have a sense of humor, and increasing trepidation, let me leave you with the latest agit-prop image.  Our soldiers do not deserve this.  But someone... somewhere... is deserving of this thought.  But not... our queen.



May God continue to Bless America.  And may our troops safely return to their families.

Tammy Swofford

Former LCDR, Fleet Hospital Dallas, USNR, NC

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