Walt Rubel Commentary: Nation is again at war as we honor the fallen

Another Memorial Day with our nation at war.

There have thus far been 15 US service members killed and 530 wounded in our war with Iran. It’s estimated that about 3,400 Iranians have been killed by US and Israeli airstrikes.

This will be the 22nd Memorial Day in the years since the 9-11 attacks that we are at war in the Middle East. There was a brief respite following the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, 2021.

That ended with the cartoonishly named Operation Epic Fury, which has certainly been a different war than the ones fought under George W. Bush. Afghanistan had Shock and Awe. Iran has Sit and Wait.

Oh sure, we blew up lots of military targets and killed the supreme leader, along with other government officials in the opening days. But airstrikes alone haven’t produced surrender since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And, the president has thus far resisted calls to send in waves of ground troops, which would undoubtedly lead to massive casualties.

This Memorial Day there are more than 50,000 Marines and sailors who have been sent to the region. They include the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its associated strike groups; along with stealth fighters, Super Hornets and other aircraft.

The cost of the war to U.S. taxpayers is estimated at between $500 million and $1 billion a day. Each time we shoot down an incoming missile with a Patriot Interceptor it costs more than $4 million. We’ve launched about 1,000 so far. Tomahawk missiles go for $2 million to $4 million each, depending on supply and demand at the time the order is made.

The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in supplemental funding to pay for the war. And, that’s just the financial cost. It doesn’t include the reputational damage done every time the president threatens to annihilate the entire civilian population.

An uneasy cease fire that has been in place since April continues to hold. Iran continues to block passage of oil takers through the Strait of Hormuz and gas prices continue to go up because of it.

The president has come up with one new idea, Unfortunately it does not involve tactics or strategy. The plan is to change the name of Operation Epic Fury to Operation Sledgehammer. That ought to fix it.

To be clear, I don’t have any bright ideas as to how we get out of this mess. And, any solution I came up with at this point would require a little bit of humility and an admission of past mistakes. We all know that will never happen with this administration.

But, it is clear by now that we have established objectives that will not be met. There will be no regime change or free and fair elections for the people of Iran. Its leaders will continue to fund regional terrorist groups and threaten their neighbors. And, in fact, they now have new leverage by closing the strait.

The president is down to his last objective: Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. He’s already negotiated that down to 20 years. I do think an agreement will eventually be reached, but it will be signed by the next president.


Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected].

Listen to the audio version