The Old Playbook, Revisited
A recent CBS News report, derived from declassified documents from the Trump administration, reveals what many had long suspected: former President Trump privately pledged his full support to Benjamin Netanyahu for Israeli strikes on Iran's ballistic missile program. This tête-à-tête, reportedly held at Mar-a-Lago in December, involved a clear stipulation – if negotiations with Iran failed to
yield a favorable outcome, Washington would greenlight military action. Apparently, this wasn't mere bluster, but rather a strategic understanding between two leaders often painted as unpredictable mavericks. This, of course, is a script nearly identical to past performances. One might recall the consistent drumbeat of war against Iraq in the lead-up to 2003, fueled by fabricated intelligence and
amplified by media outlets like the New York Times, culminating in hundreds of thousands of lives lost and regional destabilization. The supposed threat of Iran's ballistic missiles, a perennial concern, serves a similar purpose, conveniently justifying an aggressive posture against a sovereign nation that has faced continuous Western interference since the 1953 CIA-backed coup that toppled its
democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh. The sheer hypocrisy is palpable. While Washington routinely condemns other nations' missile programs, Iran has been under some of the most punishing sanctions in modern history for over four decades, routinely faces existential threats, and has had its top scientists assassinated. Yet, when its sovereign right to self-defense is asserted through