Last weekend, at the start of the Iran War (which the Trump administration describes as a “war” while drawing a legal distinction it isn’t a war so they can, in their minds, avoid “war crimes”), the United States bombed an Iranian girls school.
And then bombed it again for good measure.
You can see immediately why the Trump administration wants to say they can’t commit war crimes without a war.
This has been at the back of my mind for a couple of days, but I hadn’t really given it much thought. There’s so much else going on, and there’s no Western journalism on the ground to cover what’s happening and what’s not. On some level, it all feels a bit distant and nebulous, almost like a video game (which is pretty close to the way the Trump administration is talking about the way.)
This morning, while doing my Twitter doomscroll, I saw a piece of Iranian propaganda about the the bombing of the school.
I don’t care that it is propaganda.
I don’t care that it is ostensibly from a country we are at war with, even if we won’t actually say so.
What I care about it that it personalizes a war crime.
A girls school is not a military target.
The girls attending the school were not soldiers.
Why did the United States bomb a school?
Why did the United States murder over 100 children?
What the fuck are we doing?
I use the word “murder” deliberately.
End the war. Now.
The war will end, probably sooner rather than later. Despite Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt talking about the possibility of a military draft, I doubt Trump has any real stomach for a prolonged conflict. He probably expected Venezuela 2.0 — quick hit and we’re done — and he’ll get tired of it.
While I think Qasim Rashid’s #1 — Trump admits defeat and leaves Iran — is the most likely, the United States is not the only actor here. This is also Israel’s war, and their interests are not America’s interests. Frankly, and I hate saying this because it sounds utterly mad and bloodthirsty, I feel like Bibi Netanyahu would merrily carry on with attacking Iran if the United States declared a peace and withdrew, and when he runs out of conventional weapons he has a nuclear arsenal of his own he can turn to. The man has wanted to bomb Iran for at least twenty years. He’s obsessed with the possibility that Iran might someday develop a nuclear bomb. At times I have felt he won’t be happy until he’s turned Tehran into a radioactive crater.
In light of the last week, Iran developing a nuclear weapon is a completely rational decision, as a nuclear weapon would be a deterrent against attacks from nuclear powers like the United States and Israel.
Mutually Assured Destruction worked.
I don’t know how this ends.
Modern war has been video game-ified, with corpse humping and remix videos.
Nothing says how morally degraded modern civilization has become than the memeification of war and death.