Another quagmire in the Middle East…..

[rooster]

It is almost worth enduring the tiresome insults to reap the comedic rewards of the unending attempts to characterize the bombing of this school as though responsibility for this was still to be determined.

.

[txdot-guy]

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

—Abraham Lincoln - Second Inaugural Address

Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day, all wrapped up in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it. Open the fuckin strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in hell. Just watch. Praise be to Allah.

—Donald Trump - Truth Social

The difference is striking. I’m not sure that Trump has the humility and mental acumen to get us out of the mess that he has created.

We’re in a quagmire and we are sinking deeper by the week.

[Yssup Rider]

What a fuckin’ statesman!

Hope the MAGAs are proud.

Time to invoke the 25th, or they will all swing with him.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Sometimes I wonder if some folk recall what this here OP was even about.

While I do not see what comparing Lincoln's 2nd inaugural (after the war) to Trump's (during a war) has to do with the OP, as presented, I wonder if, perhaps inadvertently, some are hoping their month after will be similar for both.

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

As I recall, Lincoln had a very bad day a few weeks after that speech.
In other news: Anyone catch the recent SNL skit on Trump?

I think Lincoln's more relevant speech was a couple years earlier in the little hamlet of Gettysburg. That one seems a closer comparison with the OP topic at hand, in that it was given during the event - IMMHO.

...The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

I suspect the future Citizens of Iran would appreciate a heaping helping of that there - "government of the people, by the people, for the people", instead of a regime that received, literally, pallets of cash, ~$150 billion, yet has no accounting of what it was spent on. Was it spent on their infrastructure? Maybe building schools in abandoned IRGC compounds. Nahhhh, I think we all know where it went - military spending.

Was the Civil war necessary? What about the current Iran action of the OP? They do have some parallels EX: Both were/are brutal, with many casualties, though the present conflict is taking great pains to avoid civilians. Both have the objective of freeing all the citizens - essentially. Both are/were intended to preserve and protect our nation.

If delving into quotes of old to try to understand freedom and safety for all citizens and the battles it takes, perhaps try Ulysses S. Grant:

“I know only two tunes. One of them is 'Yankee Doodle' the other isn't.”

“To maintain peace in the future it is necessary to be prepared for war.”

“I have never advocated war except as means of peace, so seek peace, but prepare for war. Because war... War never changes. War is like winter and winter is coming.”

“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten. Then he who continues the attack wins.”

“But my later experience has taught me two lessons: first, that things are seen plainer after the events have occurred; second, that the most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticised.”

“Whatever may have been my political opinions before, I have but one sentiment now: that is, we have a government, and laws, and a flag, and they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter.”

[txdot-guy]

Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

Sometimes I wonder if some folk recall what this here OP was even about.

While I do not see what comparing Lincoln's 2nd inaugural (after the war) to Trump's (during a war) has to do with the OP, as presented, I wonder if, perhaps inadvertently, some are hoping their month after will be similar for both.As I recall, Lincoln had a very bad day a few weeks after that speech.

I was using the words of both Presidents to accentuate their differences. Both in empathy and intelligence.

You either missed the point or you have chosen to change the subject.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

...You either missed the point or you have chosen to change the subject.

I know what you think you thought. Do not overlook that when pointing a finger at someone else, 3 are pointing back to yourself.

It was a space and time continuum comparison. "...I do not see what comparing Lincoln's 2nd inaugural (after the war) to Trump's (during a war) ...". Hence the Ulysses S. Grant quotes showing perspectives during versus after a war.

Hindsight being what it is and all. Consider the second to last quote, for example: “But my later experience has taught me two lessons: first, that things are seen plainer after the events have occurred; second, that the most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticised.”

Tip sheet: The first 5 quotes are before or during a war. The latter 2 reflect his perspective after a war.

[txdot-guy]

Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

I know what you think you thought. Do not overlook that when pointing a finger at someone else, 3 are pointing back to yourself.

It was a space and time continuum comparison. "...I do not see what comparing Lincoln's 2nd inaugural (after the war) to Trump's (during a war) ...". Hence the Ulysses S. Grant quotes showing perspectives during versus after a war.

Hindsight being what it is and all. Consider the second to last quote, for example: “But my later experience has taught me two lessons: first, that things are seen plainer after the events have occurred; second, that the most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticised.”

Tip sheet: The first 5 quotes are before or during a war. The latter 2 reflect his perspective after a war.

I think I understand the point you are trying to make. However if you want the American public to get onboard with a war that has plunged the global economy into turmoil and is costing the American taxpayer a billion dollars a day he’ll have to do better than bombastic truth social posts and testosterone driven warrior memes.

I have serious doubts that Trump will learn anything meaningful from this war that he decided to prosecute without any consensus from the general public.

As the President he has the authority to conduct military operations at will (unless congress grows a backbone) but as a free citizen of the United States I have the absolute right to call him a dumb ass for doing so.

P.S. He’s a dumbass that apparently learned nothing from our experience in Iraq or Afghanistan and appears to be putting the interests of the Israelis above the American taxpayer.

[Yssup Rider]

Dumbass is kind, txdot

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by elghund

Trump starts another needless war...

Actually, it may be much, much more needful than needless. While I could go on about how many Subjects (40,000+) have been exterminated by the fanatical regime in such a short time (this year), it's more of a how thing.

For the men folk rounded up, they are typically executed the very same day or next morning. For the women folk, it's another bag of pickles. A very, very bad of pickles at that.

Maybe knock-up some of the double Holy Trinity at one or more of the New York Times, BBC Verify, NPR, CBC, Human Rights Watch, or Amnesty International just exactly what the processing for women protesters involves.
Hint: too gruesome to mention here.

But it's the bigger picture that's worth paying attention to.

The Unholy Alliance: Moscow and Beijing's Invisible Shield Over Tehran

The strategic landscape of the Middle East has undergone a terminal shift. For decades, the Washington establishment operated under the delusion that Russia and China were "stakeholders" in a rules-based order. Today, that facade has crumbled. As of March 2026, we are witnessing the functional integration of a new "Axis of Evasion"—a tripartite pact between Russia, China, and Iran that has effectively neutralized Western military dominance in the region...

And that is not even accounting for the NWO and NATO, aka the EU writ large.

[1blackman1]

Americans don’t give a shit about the treatment of people in other countries. Americans barely give a shit about the treatment of people in America.

If Iran was rounding up folks and drawing and quartering them in town squares we’d have some faux and performative outrage but we’d do nothing about it. We’d surely not wage a war to stop the carnage.

You can save the “Iran’s fanatical regime is so awful they must be stopped” diatribe.

[offshoredrilling]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

Americans don’t give a shit about the treatment of people in other countries. Americans barely give a shit about the treatment of people in America.

If Iran was rounding up folks and drawing and quartering them in town squares we’d have some faux and performative outrage but we’d do nothing about it. We’d surely not wage a war to stop the carnage.

You can save the “Iran’s fanatical regime is so awful they must be stopped” diatribe.

can we go with I do not to see you or I nuked. Or should I go with only I do not want ta be nuked ????