{"id":45791,"date":"2024-02-04T06:58:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T14:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=45791"},"modified":"2024-02-04T06:58:49","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T14:58:49","slug":"all-options-are-on-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/04\/all-options-are-on-the-table\/","title":{"rendered":"‘All Options Are on the Table’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

There they go again. The geniuses inside the DC Beltway are bombing<\/a> the Middle East again, specifically 85+ targets in Iraq and Syria allegedly supported by Iran. It\u2019s funny: I don\u2019t recall a Congressional declaration of war against Iraq and Syria (or Iran, for that matter), but who needs to be limited by the U.S. Constitution, am I right?<\/p>\n

After the recent attack that killed three U.S. soldiers, I heard again that hackneyed expression from DC that \u201call options are on the table\u201d in response. Amazing how the option that\u2019s always picked by U.S. presidents is the military one. If it\u2019s not \u201cbomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran,\u201d as John McCain<\/a> once jokingly sang, it\u2019s bomb Iranian-backed units in Iraq and Syria, because that\u2019s the best way toward greater stability and peace in the Middle East. Perfectly logical.<\/p>\n

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Yes, he died in 2018, but he\u2019s America\u2019s most likely presidential winner in 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Speaking of John McCain, I like the joke that\u2019s making the rounds that no matter who Americans vote for as president, they get John McCain, which is a shorthand way of saying that the National Security State is the unofficial fourth and most powerful branch of the U.S. government. Or, if you prefer, the MICIMATT<\/a>, the military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-media-academe-think-tank complex.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the media, you can always count on U.S. media talking heads issuing resounding hosannas to the highest whenever a U.S. president bombs a foreign country. Remember when reporters gushed<\/a> that Donald Trump had finally become a real president in 2017 when he bombed Syria? Trump, who expressed his contempt for John McCain, finally became him \u2013 and earned the MICIMATT\u2019s approval \u2013 when he started bombing and launching missiles to kill foreigners.<\/p>\n

Finally, we often hear the expression from U.S. government-types that the only thing \u201cthey\u201d understand is physical violence and war. It\u2019s often far more accurate to say that the only thing \u201cwe\u201d (the MICIMATT, that is) understand (and profit from) is physical violence and war.<\/p>\n

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. There they go again. The geniuses inside the DC Beltway are bombing the Middle East again, specifically 85+ targets in Iraq and Syria allegedly supported by Iran. It\u2019s funny: I don\u2019t recall a Congressional declaration of war against Iraq and Syria (or Iran, for that matter), but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-45791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"Then why is bombing the option that's always chosen?"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45791"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45796,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45791\/revisions\/45796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45791"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}