My entire military career occurred during the global war on terrorism, more commonly referred to among the military-minded as GWOT. Like many among my generation who donned the uniform in that era, it was the military’s need of people that led to my 20-year career in the U.S. Army. Some joined out of patriotism in the days and weeks after 9/11.
My wife and I were college seniors in Cleveland, Tennessee, back then. The thought of being one of the troops was the farthest thing from my mind at the time. It took two more years for me to join, as the Army desperately needed more people to fill the formations as war raged on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I had a family to feed. What we planned as a four-year stint grew into a longer mission, one marked by both good times, and bad.
Watching weak American leadership hand Iraq over to become an Iranian proxy, and then giving Afghanistan back to the evil that thousands of my colleagues in arms died fighting, jaded me. The line was ‘we fight them over there, so we won’t have to fight them here.’ That promise was broken, our borders flung open to a hostile world as we were sent overseas to allegedly protect against such threats. Within that context, I became as close to an isolationist as one can be, without becoming a libertarian in full.
My philosophy on defense policy shifted to reflect cautions offered by America’s founding fathers against military adventurism abroad. But when I awoke to news of Operation Epic Fury, there was a deep sense of satisfaction.
READ MORE UPDATED: President Trump Confirms ‘Major Combat Operation’ in Iran
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How could this be? Is it not hypocrisy to believe America should stop waging wars abroad, and yet cheer for this one? That question has been posed to me, and quite fairly. My enthusiasm for toppling ayatollah totalitarianism in Iran challenges the public stance of near isolation I held in recent years. My defense begins with Christian Just War Tradition.
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been in a state of proxy war with the United States for its entire 47-year reign, running a global campaign of terror that Al Quada could only dream of. Books could be filled with the history of attacks perpetuated worldwide by Iranian proxies, and I could do the research to help fill those pages.
But this is a personal, rather than academic, topic for me. I deployed with the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division to eastern Afghanistan 2011-2012. When one of our paratroopers died, the instruments of execution usually came with Iranian fingerprints to some extent. Twice, men I led survived attacks from the same kind. The best answer our most powerful nation on earth would muster for this was continued sanctions, which never seem to bring despots to the bargaining table.
The Iranian government started this war a long time ago. It took nearly five decades for America to respond. But unlike remnants of the Iranian regime that are ordering indiscriminate strikes across the Gulf region, our response has been targeted and aimed at minimizing the suffering of innocents. This is a defensive campaign against an enemy that has long called for death to America. We have the moral high ground in delivering death to that psychotic Islamist movement.
My second reason for supporting Epic Fury is because of the blow it offers to terrorist organizations around the world. Hamas and Hezbollah depend upon appropriations from Tehran. Losing such major state support will leave a massive gap that severely restricts future operations. Played right, this might be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for to cause catastrophic damage to global terror network supply lines, and potentially finish some of these groups off completely.
Just this week I learned that the majority of Christians murdered in the world today are slain in Nigeria, another region where the murderous impact of Iranian conquest is painfully felt. A report published by the Hoover Institute reports that “While Iran attempts to mask its activities in Africa as international benevolence, its terrorist proxies and other sympathetic groups have made very little effort covering up the nature of their own intentions in the region.” The Iranian government made itself the top institution of global murder in our time. Cutting off this snake’s head will have a trickledown effect around the world. There is no reason to kick this can down the road for future generations to confront what we can destroy here and now.
Another factor differentiating our campaign against Iran from the failed GWOT era is that Epic Fury began with the Iranian people. They started the protests against totalitarian rule. Unlike Marxist revolutions of the 20th Century, this attempt by the Iranian people is a movement aimed at trading tyranny for governance that respects the most basic of human rights granted to humanity by God. The regime responded with mass slaughter. These are not apathetic Iraqis or Afghans upon whom we’re forcing regime change. This is a campaign in which our efforts partner with the populace toward a shared desire of morally justifiable end.
Finally, this is the real war on terrorism. For the first time in my life the U.S. military has been unleashed to conduct the kind of fight that’s worth showing up for. The last two decades were marked by restrictive rules of engagement designed by lawyers and politicians rather than warriors. The nation sent us to combat, but with the highest-priority condition being that we kept one hand tied behind our backs.
It was like an insane game of tag, in which the enemy could employ tactics like those used by my five-year-old of running to the couch, plopping down, and saying ‘base.’ Our enemies knew the limits imposed by our rules of engagement, and used them against our fellow citizens in uniform sent to fight. That philosophy of placing victory merely as an option to consider proved an immoral over-reach in the name of morality.
So far, the Trump administration is allowing our forces to pursue and destroy the enemy. This is a continuation of Christian Just War Tradition, applying the level of violence needed to expeditiously restore a just peace. As Iran acts out by striking Gulf nations, the coalition to topple that regime grows. There is moral satisfaction in watching the elites of a state power who made themselves loyal servants of Lucifer’s cause find their end in violent fashion. Some might call it revenge. Even if so, it’s rightly-ordered justice, and we have firm Biblical standing to be grateful for it.
To be clear, I’m speaking for myself. Some of my GWOT veteran colleagues, intelligent patriots and men I greatly respect, think differently on this for reasons they can argue well. One thing we share is anticipation for the day when wars end, and as Scripture tells us, we will beat our swords into plowshares. But until then, I’m glad to see America approach an adversary with determination to defeat an indisputably evil enemy in our place and time.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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