{"id":1380,"date":"2026-08-09T11:38:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T11:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1380"},"modified":"2026-08-09T11:38:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T11:38:26","slug":"the-iran-war-and-the-case-for-victory-over-negotiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1380","title":{"rendered":"The Iran War and the Case for Victory Over Negotiation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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E<\/span>ven with the unpredictability of evil actors in matters of war, a normalcy bias that developed after World War II has enveloped the minds of many policymakers involved with U.S. war fighting strategy. American approaches to war for the last 70 years \u00a0have been characterized by a bias that wars strategy should be guided by the goal of reaching negotiated outcomes rather than achieving victory and total defeat of the enemy.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Renews Fight Over Birthright Citizenship With New Executive Orders<\/a><\/p>\n

Douglas MacArthur was relieved of duty as Commanding General of the U.S. Army Forces-Far East on April 11, 1951, almost a year into the Korean War.\u00a0 A week later he gave his farewell address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, a speech that was coined as the \u201cNo Substitute for Victory in War\u201d speech.\u00a0 MacArthur\u2019s full quote on the essential importance of victory in that speech was, \u201c<\/em>War\u2019s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war, there is no substitute for victory.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Trump is the first U.S. president in 47 years to take decisive military actions against the terrorist regime in Iran.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The current war with Iran that started on February 28, 2026, \u00a0has not\u00a0 been conducted by the MacArthur maxim.\u00a0 Rather, similar to previous conflicts, it has been carried out through cycles of intense strikes \u2192 ceasefires and lengthy \u201cpeace\u201d negotiations \u2192 truce breakdown followed by retaliatory strikes, which have led to the next round of the same \u2014 almost\u00a0 a predictable on again-off again pattern, with Iran rearming during every ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Every time Trump and his military brass think their increased strikes and bomb tonnage have finally achieved the level of pain that will bring about a lasting truce and peace deal on acceptable terms with the Iranian leadership, the IRGC has turned around with a variety of military strikes, apparently to reassert that they can neither be defeated nor dislodged from their dominant position in controlling the Straits of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The Iranian mullah regime\u2019s bad faith is rooted in their unique Shia Muslim \u00a0belief system in which compromise with the \u201cinfidel\u201d is defeat, and defeat is simply not an option. We know this from the fact that the IRGC runs deep ideological training programs built on sacrifice being glorified around martyrdom. Analysts note the IRGC recruits and retains only those totally committed to this uncompromising suicidal posture.<\/p>\n

During the Iran-Iraq War between 1980 and 1988 hundreds of thousands of Iranians, including children as young as 12, volunteered for human wave attacks and walked over minefields believing martyrdom was God\u2019s greatest reward. Training materials condition recruits to view martyrdom not as an unfortunate consequence of war but as the highest virtue. In fact, an entire IRGC state-affiliated apparatus exists specifically to promote and publicize martyrdom as a virtue. The bottom line is that even if mullah-IRGC leadership concludes it can\u2019t win militarily, it is likely to pursue \u201cvictory\u201d as the symbolic legacy of having fought to the end.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration needs to suspend the last vestiges of a normalcy bias that elevates negotiation over strategic success in winning wars. And we must always remember that the psychological dimension of war is just as important as the kinetic dimension. Iran has many allies with tentacles into the U.S. media, elite think tanks, and the Democrat Party that push the idea that the United States and Israel cannot defeat Iran. The mullahs are playing us with delays knowing that the America people will lose patience and likely turn against the war.<\/p>\n

For those who think the Islamic regime in Iran is unbeatable because of its radical theocratic death-cult it is worth returning to General Douglass MacArthur who presided over the total defeat of Japan, signing the surrender agreement on behalf of all Allied powers on the deck of the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.<\/p>\n

Read more The Fanatical Stupidity of Liberals With \u2018Suicidal Empathy\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Iran has much in common with pre-World War II Japan in terms of its absolutist \u00a0religious culture being melded into its political culture. The primary commonality of the former State Shintoism in Japan and today\u2019s Shia Islamist regime in Iran is that both believe their god does not permit defeat and that dying in battle for triumph of the state was a sure a path to sacred honor and divine appointment in the afterlife.<\/p>\n

At the time of World War II, Japanese Emperor Hirohito was officially regarded as a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, making him divine and infallible. This wasn\u2019t a fringe belief \u2014 it was taught in schools, embedded in law, and reinforced through ritual throughout Japanese society. Loyalty to the emperor was inseparable from religious devotion.\u00a0 The Meiji government had reorganized Shinto shrines into a state-run hierarchy, different from ordinary \u201creligious\u201d Shintoism. This development prompted many Japanese citizens comfortable with their traditional Shinto beliefs to embrace State Shintoism that included dying in battle for the emperor, which was also framed as a path to a kind of sacred honor.\u00a0 And that fed into ideologies like the kamikaze corps, very similar to the Shia IRGC death cult and extremist factions of Salafi-jihadism in Sunni Islam, such as Al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n

There is a significant difference between the State Shintoism in Japan of earlier times and the radical Shia ruling class in Iran today.\u00a0 In Japan, support for Emperor Hirohito and State Shintoism was a significant majority in Japan. But the opposite is the case in Iran, where only 10 percent of the population support the Mullah-IRGC regime, while more than 80 percent of the Iranian people oppose it.<\/p>\n

The end of the conflict in Iran can come soon.\u00a0 It requires three successful initiatives to be implemented by the United States and some of its well-armed Middle East allies who will hopefully join in bringing a quick end to Iran\u2019s radical Mullah regime:<\/p>\n

First, all overland transportation routes into Iran for military resupply need to be neutralized and made impassible. Second,\u00a0 the U.S. and its allies need to seize or destroy every Iranian port facility that has the \u00a0capacity to export oil. Third, the Iranian Opposition \u00a0needs to be armed in sufficient number to finish the job of eliminating the last remnants of IRGC operatives in Iran once the U.S. completes the first two initiatives.<\/p>\n

The United States has come too far in five months, to fail to liberate the Iranian people from a regime that has slaughtered some 40,000+ of its own citizens in the last six months. \u00a0Iran under the ayatollahs and IRGC has been the number one source of terrorism globally, responsible for killing or maiming thousands of Americans.\u00a0 As of mid-2026, roughly 40 countries have designated the IRGC (or its Quds Force specifically) as an international terrorist organization.<\/p>\n

Trump is the first U.S. president in 47 years to take decisive military actions against the terrorist regime in Iran. There is simply no more important component of bringing peace and stability to the Middle East than the removal of this radical Shia Mullah regime. It is time to stop negotiating with terrorists and get the job done.<\/p>\n

READ MORE from Scott S. Powell:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dawn or Twilight?\u00a0America at 250<\/strong><\/p>\n

Memorial Day and the Meaning of American Reconciliation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Two Stories of Reality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott S. Powell is senior fellow at the Discovery Institute. His book,<\/strong><\/em>Rediscovering America <\/strong>\u2014 a previous #1 new release in history at Amazon for eight straight weeks \u2014 provides unique insights for this year\u2019s\u00a0 Quarter Millennium 250th anniversary of America\u2019s founding. \u00a0(https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1637581599). Reach him at [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Read more The Cooler: The Ultimate User Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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