Source: CounterPunch
by Barbara G Ellis
“The portly man at the next table finished his breakfast, leaned in my direction, and asked: ‘What’s in the news that’s so interesting?’ ‘Iran,’ I said, adding that the U.S. seemed about to attack it. ‘Over in a day,’ he said, snapping fingers for emphasis. Having spent two years at Beirut’s Daily Star when Iraqis dragged the pro-West prime minister’s body through Bagdad’s streets to celebrate the monarchy’s overthrow, I know the Mideast’s ferocity against Western domination for exploitation. A war with Iran would never be over in a day — a month, or year anymore than it was in Vietnam. … when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to outgoing oil ships, somehow Trump’s war planners once again seemed to overlook the ancient contempt by Westerners for foreign militants as factors in wars. They soon learned that aroused ‘inferiors’ made wars endless and monumentally expensive in lives and treasure for arrogant ‘superiors.’” (03/23/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/23/an-off-ramp-for-trump-to-reverse-the-iran-disaster/