How to start a war you can’t finish

2026-03-16 - 12:44

Following the September 11 attacks, then US President George W. Bush famously declared: “This conflict began on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing.” He proceeded to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, yet the American quagmire persisted for twenty years, ultimately culminating in the humiliating withdrawal of America’s forces from Kabul in August 2021. Today, Donald Trump and his Secretary of Defense have repeatedly asserted that the war against Iran will conclude swiftly. Alongside Netanyahu, they operated under the assumption that assassinating Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would trigger the immediate surrender of the Iranian leadership. That hasn’t happened. Despite the aggressors launching unprecedented strikes against military and strategic sites, Tehran has refused to raise the white flag. Trump and Netanyahu called upon the Iranian people to revolt against the regime, yet there has been no upheaval. They attempted to incite a Kurdish rebellion, but past experiences—where the US “sold out” and abandoned the Kurds in Iraq and Syria—led Kurdish leaders to reject the proposal. Consequently, Trump was forced to withdraw the Kurdish card from the table. As a result, the war has shifted toward intensified aerial and missile strikes. Daily, US or Israeli military officials claim: “This is the most painful day for Iran since the war began.” Nevertheless, Iran continues to hold its ground. Trump is applying the “Madman Theory,” projecting an image of an irrational, volatile leader prepared to take catastrophic and entirely unpredictable actions. Tehran, however, has responded with the same logic: total unpredictability—striking US interests within sovereign states, attacking the vital economic infrastructure of those nations, and effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz. What remains in the arsenal of Trump and Netanyahu? Nothing but destruction and the systematic targeting of civilians. This is the “Dahiya Doctrine,” a strategy adopted by the Israeli military for years in its campaigns against Lebanon and Hezbollah. The core tenet of this doctrine is that if the enemy’s military capabilities cannot be fully neutralized, the path to victory lies in the sustained punishment of the civilian population. This is precisely what Israel is currently executing across nearly all of Lebanon, specifically in the southern suburbs of Beirut—Hezbollah’s stronghold. It is killing for the sake of killing and destruction for the sake of destruction. Israel previously employed this strategy against Gaza during its 30-month offensive. Despite 70,000 deaths and the total leveling of the Strip, Hamas refused to surrender. Similarly, Hezbollah has not yielded. Prominent strategic expert and professor at the University of Bradford, Paul Rogers, observes that Washington and Tel Aviv are currently deploying the same blueprint against Iran. These “barbaric” strikes on infrastructure evoke the darkest chapters of the Second World War—and perhaps exceed them. What the aggressors overlook is that Iran’s population of 93 million is forty times that of Gaza; it is a vastly different entity than the Gaza Strip or the southern suburbs of Beirut. Rogers argues that the mission is virtually impossible because Tehran will not remain silent. The Revolutionary Guard is poised to expand its strikes against regional oil and gas industries, potentially plunging the world into a global energy crisis that could eclipse the 1973 oil embargo. The fundamental flaw of these modern invaders is that just as they fight from the air, their perception of the people below is equally detached and superficial. They operate under the illusion that they can start and stop the game at will. However, history has proven that while the Americans are experts at initiating conflicts, they are notoriously incapable of ending them. Author’s bio Abdel Allah Abdel Salam is the managing editor at Al-Ahram newspaper where he writes a daily column titled “New Horizon”. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University (1987). He began his journalistic career at Al-Wafd newspaper, then moved to the Middle East News Agency before settling at Al-Ahram newspaper in June 1991. He founded the Al-Ahram electronic portal and served as its editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2013. In 2013, he was the executive editor-in-chief of the Al-Masry Al-Youm website. Salam also worked as managing editor of the Al Ain (UAE) portal in 2016, and managing editor of the “Al-Watan” (Egyptian) newspaper’s website in 2017.