Damage to Konarak Naval Base in Iran.
I do wish all of you a peaceful Easter despite world leaders trying their hardest to burn it all down. War — no matter the stated case — always represents a failure of something. The most widely held version is that war is a failure of humanity. This thought is credited to a number of people but given this is Holy Week, I’ll source it to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin — who wisely found a way to blame us all.
Dr. Christian and I agree that as citizens, human beings and Christians — we feel the stain of all the civilians killed in the Middle East and elsewhere. When we start taking the deaths of innocents lightly because they are thousands of miles away, we have crossed a line. Like an infection, it grows and spreads and in my view, affects our whole being. When someone defends the murder of children, no matter how well crafted the story, we know on some level, they are lying. And they know they are lying.
All the nonsense about liberating Iranians from the mullahs has disappeared and morphed into bombing back to the stone age, the very people America said they were rescuing. This historic Vietnam era phrase came from Air Force General Curtis LeMay who is both worshipped and reviled in American military history. An heroic air force leader but also a big believer in extreme destruction from the air. A man of his times.
LeMay continued to be a strong advocate for use of nuclear weapons. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, LeMay tried to goad President Kennedy into bombing the missile sites in Cuba. LeMay believed that a massive display of US force would force the Soviets into capitulation. Kennedy was more cautious; the blockade worked and the crisis passed. Early in the Vietnam War, he advocated widespread bombing of key North Vietnamese industrial and military targets; President Johnson thought that this would draw the USSR and China into the war. LeMay wanted to threaten to North Vietnam that they stop aggression or “We’ll bomb them back into the Stone Age.” Outspoken and unpopular, he retired in 1965.
During the 1968 election, LeMay joined Alabama Governor and infamous segregationist George Wallace as vice-presidential running mate. Wallace and LeMay ran as part of the newly-established American Independent Party. Both were controversial candidates: Wallace opposed federally-enforced desegregation, while LeMay called for use of nuclear weapons on North Vietnam. They won 13.5% of the popular vote and won five states in the Deep South–a strong showing for a third party.
LeMay was highly decorated by many countries, honored with the Air Medal, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion d’honneur, and First Order of Merit with the grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.
We had to destroy the village in order to save it — another Vietnam era conundrum from an unnamed American officer.
Meanwhile: Iran massacred thousands of protestors prior to the launch by Israel and America of this latest military catastrophe — now defined not by bang-bang but who controls the Straight of Hormuz. It’s not the West.
The number of protestors killed, mostly shot, is debated once a week on shows like Piers Morgan, by people who have a vested interest in keeping the war going and the other side who are calling for a peaceful end. Estimates range from a few thousand to thirty thousand. So you know, the thirty thousand figure being lobbed about comes from the Guardian, a left-wing British paper that is estimating based on narrative reporting. Regardless of how big the number is, the stories from injured protestors are terrifying. This is a must-read.
On Thursday 8 January, in a midsize Iranian town, Dr Ahmadi’s* phone began to buzz. His colleagues in local emergency wards were getting worried.
All week, people had taken to the streets and had been met by police with batons and pellet guns. With treatment, their injuries should not have been too serious. But emergency room staff believed many wounded young people were avoiding hospitals, terrified that registering as trauma patients would lead to their identification and arrest.
Quietly, Ahmadi [who remains anonymous due to fear of reprisals, but whose identity, credentials and presence within Iran during the unrest have been verified by the Guardian] and his wife began treating patients at a location outside Iran’s government hospital system. Alerted by a local whisper network, wounded young people flocked to them. Mostly, they brought superficial injuries – laceration wounds needing stitches and antibiotics. As Thursday evening wore on, more and more arrived to be patched up.
The next day, everything abruptly changed. Protesters kept coming, but their injuries were close-range gunshots and severe stab wounds, typically to the chest, eyes and genitals. Many proved fatal.
Ahmadi was shocked by the number being killed – more than 40 in his small town alone – but with the internet blacked out, no one knew what the national picture was. To piece it together, Ahmadi assembled a network of more than 80 medical professionals across 12 of Iran’s 31 provinces to share observations and data, and to build a clearer picture of the violence.
They’ve mass murdered people. No one can imagine … I saw just blood, blood and blood
Their observations, shared with the Guardian and combined with accounts from morgues and graveyards across the country, begin to reveal the vast scale of violence inflicted on Iranians during the state’s crackdown. Ahmadi and his colleagues are hesitant to provide a figure for the toll but agree “all publicly cited death tolls represent a severe underestimation”. Comparing the number of dead they witnessed with hospital baselines, they estimate it could exceed 30,000, far surpassing official figures. This is based on the conclusion that “officially registered deaths related to the crackdown likely represent less than 10% of the real number of fatalities”.
For us critical thinkers, a shrinking group out there in the world, both things can be true. Iran’s religious leaders are capable of grotesque violence. But when other such crackdowns happen around the world, America doesn’t unleash the fires of hell. This is a war that Israel wanted and everyone knows it. There may be a large swath of MAGA voters prepared to die in such a cause but I’m not seeing it.
An F-15 was shot down over Iran and there is much talk about when American troops will deploy for a ground “operations”.
F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet — Shot down over southwestern Iran. It had a two-person crew (pilot and weapons systems officer). Both ejected. U.S. special forces rescued one crew member, who is alive and receiving medical care. The second crew member remains missing, with an active U.S. search-and-rescue operation underway inside Iran. Iranian state media released images of wreckage (including what appears to be an F-15 vertical stabilizer and an empty ejection seat) and offered a reward for capturing the crew.
axios.com
A-10 Thunderbolt II (”Warthog”) attack aircraft — Struck by Iranian air defences near the Strait of Hormuz/Persian Gulf. The single pilot ejected and was rescued. The plane crashed into the water.
cnn.com
This marks the first confirmed case of a U.S. manned combat aircraft being shot down by Iranian forces during the current war. Earlier U.S. aircraft losses were due to friendly fire or accidents (e.g., three F-15Es by friendly fire in Kuwait in March). Iranian media has claimed additional strikes on U.S. search-and-rescue aircraft (including helicopters), but U.S. officials have not fully confirmed all of those
Meanwhile — Peter Hegseth seems to be firing Generals and anyone in the Pentagon who disagrees with him and/or the president.
Good times.
What a disaster.
