In the months leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, I served as a strategist at the Pentagon, where I had unusual access to military thinking, intelligence assessments, and senior-level discussions.I regularly attended meetings hosted by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Richard Myers.From the outside, it looked like Washington spoke with one confident voice.
The Bush administration telegraphed certainty, and much of the media echoed it.That was not my view.The more information I received, the more questions I asked.What would victory look like? How many troops would be required? What would follow after Baghdad fell? Were we prepared for a prolonged occupation? Did we fully understand the political, tribal, religious, and regional forces we were about to unleash?PRESIDENT TRUMP’S IRAN WARNING IS SERIOUS — BUT AMERICANS NEED THE FULL FACTSThose questions were swept aside by confidence in America's military superiority.The regime fell quickly.
The war did not.What followed cost America more than 4,400 military deaths, over 32,000 wounded, and more than two trillion dollars.The conflict created the conditions that gave rise to ISIS, a threat that still plagues the region.One hundred days into the Iran war, I find myself asking many of those same questions again.THE CEASEFIRE THAT ISN'TThe fragile pause that began in early April has unraveled.
On June 9, an Iranian Shahed drone struck a U.S.Army AH-64 Apache helicopter patrolling near the Strait of Hormuz — the first Apache loss of the conflict.
Both crew members were rescued and are safe.President Trump immediately declared on Truth Social that "the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack." U.S.
Central Command launched retaliatory strikes the same day.Iran answered by targeting U.S.military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan — the second consecutive day of Iranian strikes on American positions in the region.A second wave of U.S.
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