In the run-up to the disastrous war in Iraq, a senior British official made a dry observation to a Newsweek reporter: "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran." There's no evidence that anyone whispered those words in Donald Trump's ears last week, but you can be sure he would have appreciated the sentiment. On Saturday night, Trump joined Israel's war against Iran, hitting their nuclear facilities with massively powerful bunker-buster bombs and, with Iran declaring "all options" on the table for a response, sparking fears in the region — and here at home — about what could come next.
It's more than a little ironic that the argument Trump used in the 2016 election to inoculate himself from George W. Bush's Iraq war debacle — that Bush knowingly lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction — is the same one Trump is using now to justify his own military action. Like Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney 23 years ago, Trump has already moved beyond his original rationale for the bombings to muse about regime change in Tehran.
