Bulletin from Washington DC: War in Iran is being waged with the moral clarity of kids playing Grand Theft Auto
President Donald Trump: It doesn’t take a ton of bravery to start wars you can’t possibly lose, especially ones that other people’s kids have to fight. Photo / Getty Images
When our kids were little, they went through a brief but intense obsession with toys called Rescue Heroes. These were relatively inoffensive action figures/TV cartoon stars, each with a specialty: Billy Blazes fought fires, Rocky Canyon did mountain rescues, Ariel Flyer was a high-risk helicopter pilot. For a while, Rescue Heroes ruled our roost with their exploits.
I was reminded of those halcyon days while watching President Trump’s press conference after two downed pilots were rescued in Iran – one climbing 2100m into a mountain crevice to hide from the bad guys – in what must already be the subject of Hollywood pitch meetings. Everyone here seems happy about the rescue, and proud our military can conduct such complex operations. And that’s great. I’m really not trying to be flippant; I just do not know what we’re doing in Iran.
It’s hard to know what’s worse, watching the most powerful man in the world show again how unwell and dangerous he is, or watching his lieutenants applaud and amplify his insanity. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs joining in is especially troubling, as military leaders should be aware of the folly of war, especially when waged with the moral clarity of kids playing Grand Theft Auto.
Everything about the rescue, the breathless coverage, the half-billion-dollar price tag, the vainglory, was so over the top it reminded me how we fetishise American lives during war. This may seem trivial, given the president’s threats to end Iranian civilization if he didn’t get his way, but it’s worth noting that for half a century the only combat deaths we’ve found acceptable are those of allies and enemies.
This national mindset is a by-product of the era of American exceptionalism ushered in by Ronald Reagan, which featured a massive military buildup so we could really start kicking ass and taking names. Vietnam was the last war where Americans had to watch Americans who didn’t volunteer die on TV. (Though with no US journalists on the ground in Iran, we don’t see any of the people being killed in our name.) Since then, our all-volunteer wars are presented more like video games, with such technological and firepower superiority that casualty figures are bizarrely lopsided. Our 20-year war in Afghanistan killed more than 200,000 people – approximately 1% of whom were US military. There were more contractors killed (3917) than US soldiers (2420).
So far, 13 US soldiers have died in Operation Epic Fury, and twice Trump has attended the “dignified transfer” of the soldiers’ remains. Hard to imagine that would be practical for the estimated 2000-3600 Iranian deaths. And just so we’re clear: all war-related deaths are tragic; we don’t get to mourn more or less than anyone else.
Trump’s murderous muse, Bibi Netanyahu, piggybacked on the war to revisit a personal favorite: killing people in Lebanon. The results were Epic Fury-like: fewer than 40 Israelis dead compared with 1800 Lebanese and another 1.2 million displaced.
Speaking of piggybacking, I think the same people who named Rescue Heroes now name US military operations. In addition to Epic Fury we’ve had Desert Storm, Rolling Thunder, Midnight Hammer, and Acoustic Kitty – when the CIA put listening devices inside cats to spy on Russia.
Trump was typically racist and hyperbolic describing one pilot’s rescue. “Thousands of savages were hunting him down,” he actually said. And speaking of people Trump has called savages, in the month we’ve been at war with Iran, 50,000 or so Africans have died thanks to their Rescue Hero, USAID, being killed. But they don’t have press conferences about that.
Trump and his mates talk a lot about the bravery of our “warfighters”, and yes, I’m sure they are brave – though I don’t know they’re any braver than anyone else’s. I do know it doesn’t take a ton of bravery to start wars you can’t possibly lose, especially ones that other people’s kids have to fight.