{"id":4026,"date":"2026-08-02T14:15:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4026"},"modified":"2026-08-02T14:15:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:15:48","slug":"trump-the-reluctant-warrior-again-calls-a-halt-to-fighting-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4026","title":{"rendered":"Trump, the reluctant warrior, again calls a halt to fighting Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the old days, you fought a war to win. You made the enemy cry \u201cUncle\u201d and then beg for mercy. Decisive victory was a thing, and Americans understood it, whether in 1783, 1848, 1865, 1918, or 1945.<\/p>

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But after WWII, something changed. There was, of course, the Cold War problem of nuclear arms. Maybe, if you tried to fight a war to victory, the Soviet Union would launch that nuke.<\/p>\n

America also wanted to be the world\u2019s leader, not the world\u2019s bully. Bullies were Nazis, so America would fight, but wouldn\u2019t fight that hard. It needed the world, including its enemies, to like it, something that didn\u2019t concern it in earlier eras. Before WWII, it wanted its enemies to surrender, whether they \u201crespected\u201d America or not.<\/p>\n

And of course, thanks to the left, America lost faith in what it stands for. Moral relativism meant that America, with her constitutional liberties and her constant efforts to leave behind historic sins, was exactly the same as<\/em><\/strong> an existential Islamic enemy that proudly slaughters Jews, Christians, blasphemers, and heretics, incorporates pedophilia into its culture, subordinates, rapes, and enslaves women, executes gays, and that, as ISIS showed, fights wars with stone-aged, cannibalistic ferocity.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, instead of fighting wars to win them, we fought them to…something, something, something. That \u201csomething\u201d could be negotiated settlements, trade deals, unlimited immigration for unrepentant enemies, shelter for fleeing tyrants who left their minions in place, and other things that (a) didn\u2019t feel like victory and (b) never actually ended the wars.<\/p>\n

This \u201cwe want it to stop\u201d approach to warfare also extended wars beyond all measure. Iraq and Afghanistan became perpetual wars, a backdrop in which American blood and treasure oozed away while leftists postured at home about the evils of America, and gained cultural and political power while doing so.<\/p>\n

President Trump has always hated long wars. Trump is also a very aggressive guy. MAGA voters assumed that, if Trump started a war, his goal would be a short, aggressive war that would end with an unambiguously victorious America. That certainly seemed to be where we were going with Iran.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Trump and Israel destroyed Iran\u2019s air defenses and the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites. When Iran continued its nuclear enrichment, Trump and Israel renewed their attack this year. It seemed like a traditional war with victory as its goal: Very swiftly, Israel and America wiped out Iranian political and military leadership, destroyed large parts of Iran\u2019s weapons capabilities and navy, etc.<\/p>\n

And then…it stopped, and the endless negotiations began. Early on, I cut Trump slack, thinking that he had some domestic goals to achieve, the most important of which was to get oil prices down. Negotiations also ended a potential War Powers Act fight with Congress, and allowed our military to replenish supplies.<\/p>

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Now, though, it\u2019s becoming unpleasantly clear that, with the midterms looming, Trump may have lost his stomach for the fight. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Iranians.<\/p>\n

Trump is also being tugged at relentlessly by voices in the White House and abroad, telling him that a bad settlement is better than a successful war. America is right back at its old posture of \u201cWe\u2019re winning, so now let\u2019s beg the enemy to accept our ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pattern has been the same for months. Trump announces that this time, for real, he\u2019s really, truly\u2014promise!\u2014going to wipe out Iran…except that Iran is talking peace (again), so Trump will, magnanimously, do nothing at all:<\/p>\n

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And Iran responds…as always…by thumbing its nose at Trump:<\/p>\n

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Fars: Iran says there is no agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the waterway will remain closed as long as the U.S. continues what it described as hostile actions.<\/p>\r\n\u2014 Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 2, 2026<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Trump is simultaneously the aggressive Boy Who Cried Wolf (\u201cThis time I\u2019m gonna get \u2019em, for sure\u201d) and the feckless Charlie Brown, who repeatedly runs at that football, only to have Lucy snatch it from him:<\/p>\n