03/30/2026 *********************************************************** I'm very concerned about the war with Iran. I don't have any inside information about it, just what I see on the news. I'm just trying to figure things out for myself. You're free to disagree and think I'm full of baloney - and you may be right :-) I'm actually hoping I've got this all wrong and everything will be okay. I don't want to argue about it - this is just my opinion, you can have yours. *********************************************************** Anyway, I'm not getting any "vibe" that this is going to be over soon. I keep hearing that we already won, that it will be a matter weeks not months, that the Iranians are begging us for a peace deal, blah, blah, blah. Reminds me of "the light at the end of the tunnel" we kept hearing about for years during the Viet Nam War. I remember when, in 1968, Gen. Westmoreland, our overall commander in Viet Nam, came back and addressed Congress saying it was all over, we won, just minor "mopping up" to do. About a week later Viet Nam erupted everywhere in the Viet Cong's "Tet Offensive". It made Westmoreland look stupid and created the "credibility gap", that the Government was lying to us about the war. We got out in 1973, after 8 years. (The entire war lasted 19 years, ending in 1975). *********************************************************** Iran has 93 million people. Their armed forces are over half a million. We're not going to subdue them with 25,000 American "boots on the ground". To me these numbers aren't adding up right. *********************************************************** Wars are a lot easier to start then they are to end. The Revolutionary War lasted from April 19, 1775, to September 3, 1783, totaling about eight years and four months. We didn't just declare independence on July 4, 1776 and the British packed up and went home. It lasted for seven more years after that. Politicians think everything's just a cakewalk - the other side is just going to roll over and knuckle under - easy peasy. At the start of the Civil War, Lincoln sent troops down to take Richmond and crush the Confederacy. The Confederates stopped them at Manassas Junction ("Bull Run") and the war went on for four years. Putin's generals told him it would take six weeks to roll into Kiev and take over Ukraine - that was four years ago - and counting. There have been short wars in history, but most wars usually last years - not weeks. When the Japanese surprise attacked us at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. didn't just knuckle under and tell Japan they had free hand in China and Southeast Asia to do whatever they wanted. Instead the response was the patriotic demand for revenge. It galvanized the U.S. into joining World War Two. The U.S. NEVER sought a negotiated "peace deal" with Japan or Germany. Why do we think Iran is wants to do that? *********************************************************** The thing I'm really worried about right now is escalation. There's already over 30 countries involved with the war now. Okay, some are pretty small, like Qatar or UAE, but it's still a lot. China gets a lot of their oil from Iran, what if they step in on Iran's side? Russia is already helping Iran with intelligence information. *********************************************************** In World War One, Austria-Hungary thought they could just take little Serbia. Russia stepped in and said no you can't. Germany stepped in and said yes they can. France and then England stepped in and said no they can't. And World War One was on. Spoiler alert - over 15 million people died in the resulting war. When World War One broke out in July 1914, they said it would be over by Christmas 1914 - they only missed that by four years - ending on November 11, 1918 instead. Every country had a plan for quick victory. Every plan went sour. *********************************************************** If you remember I tracked World War One during it's centennial in my weekly emails using the Library of Congress "100 years ago today" newspaper website. I remember one editorial, early on, that said there is a threshold on war dead and that once a country passes that their public would NEVER except a negotiated "peace deal". Once enough sons and fathers and husbands and brothers are sacrificed to the war effort, the ONLY acceptable outcome is VICTORY. And that means slugging it out until one side finally destroys the other. And that means a lot of dead "cowboys" on both sides. *********************************************************** When the news says we're spending 1 Billion dollars a day on the war (that's "billion" with a "B"). And they want two hundred billion more, I read that as two hundred days. And that means it ain't going to be over anytime soon despite all the "happy talk". *********************************************************** Like I said, I truly hope I've got this all wrong and everything will be okay. I'm just not getting any good vibe about all this. Sorry. *********************************************************** "What was, will be again, what has been done, will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun!" - Ecclesiastes 1:9 *********************************************************** *********************************************************** *********************************************************** iran military half million not over soon As of 2026, the population of Iran is approximately 93 million. "34 nations are currently tracked as directly affected by or actively participating in the Iran conflict — through military operations, diplomatic involvement, territorial exposure, or strategic alliances." https://www.currentstatusiran.com/countries The Revolutionary War lasted from April 19, 1775, to September 3, 1783, totaling about eight years and four months. The Battle of Yorktown was fought from September 28 to October 19, 1781. The War of 1812 lasted for approximately 32 months, from June 18, 1812, to February 17, 1815. The Civil War lasted from April 12, 1861, to May 26, 1865, totaling about four years. World War I lasted from July 28, 1914, to November 11, 1918, totaling just over four years. World War II lasted from September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945, making it a total of six years. World War II lasted for the United States from December 7, 1941, to September 2, 1945, a total of approximately 3 years and 9 months. The war officially ended for America with Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945. The Korean War lasted for three years, from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. The Vietnam War lasted from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975, totaling approximately 19 years and 5 months. The Vietnam War lasted for the United States from March 8, 1965, when combat troops were first deployed, until March 29, 1973, when the last military unit left Vietnam, totaling approximately 8 years. The Russian-Ukrainian war has been ongoing for over four years, starting with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As of now, it has lasted for 1,461 days. ...