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MaddowBlog-Trump's military offensive in Iran leads to mysteries that shouldn't exist
Wars are not supposed to be riddles. The fact that the White House has initiated an international guessing game is itself a scandal for the ages.
Wars are not supposed to be riddles.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-02T16:29:05.641Z
The fact that the White House has initiated an international guessing game — about the war’s rationale, its goals, its scope, etc. — is itself a scandal for the ages. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-military-offensive-in-iran-leads-to-mysteries-that-shouldnt-exist
When the question is, “Are we at war?” and the answer is, “It depends on whom you ask,” there’s a problem.
But it’s not the only problem. Wars can be many things, but the one thing they should never be is mysterious. And yet, more than 48 hours into our latest combat operations in the Middle East, neither Trump nor anyone on his team has explained in a coherent way why the president launched this offensive, or what its objectives are, or what the plan is to achieve those goals, or whether the war is legal, or how much it’s expected to cost or how long it’s expected to last.
“Usually, it’s the job of a president to formulate and articulate his goals — and offer answers to these questions — before the bombs begin to fall,” Puck’s Julia Ioffe wrote. “But those expectations are a relic of the Before Times, and this president’s trademark is brazen disregard for Washington’s standard operating practice. If anything, he revels in what this town might call ‘strategic ambiguity.’ After all, if you don’t define your goals before you start, no one will know if you’ve failed to achieve them.”
In fairness, it’d be an overstatement to suggest that the president and his allies have said literally nothing to justify the military offensive, but the comments they have made have offered more heat than light. There were some suggestions, for example, that Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S., but that wasn’t true. There was similar talk that Tehran was a week away from industrial-grade uranium enrichment, but that wasn’t true, either.......
And so, Americans have been forced to speculate in the absence of clarity. Is this about oil? Creating a distraction? Making the folks behind the FIFA peace prize look ridiculous?
A variety of observers have presented a variety of explanations, but let’s not miss the forest for the trees: Wars are not supposed to be riddles. The fact that the White House has initiated an international guessing game is itself a scandal for the ages.
On the eve of the war, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told NOTUS, in reference to Trump and his Iranian intentions, “He’s been very clear.” Before the offensive began, this position was absurd. Now, it’s vastly worse.
But it’s not the only problem. Wars can be many things, but the one thing they should never be is mysterious. And yet, more than 48 hours into our latest combat operations in the Middle East, neither Trump nor anyone on his team has explained in a coherent way why the president launched this offensive, or what its objectives are, or what the plan is to achieve those goals, or whether the war is legal, or how much it’s expected to cost or how long it’s expected to last.
“Usually, it’s the job of a president to formulate and articulate his goals — and offer answers to these questions — before the bombs begin to fall,” Puck’s Julia Ioffe wrote. “But those expectations are a relic of the Before Times, and this president’s trademark is brazen disregard for Washington’s standard operating practice. If anything, he revels in what this town might call ‘strategic ambiguity.’ After all, if you don’t define your goals before you start, no one will know if you’ve failed to achieve them.”
In fairness, it’d be an overstatement to suggest that the president and his allies have said literally nothing to justify the military offensive, but the comments they have made have offered more heat than light. There were some suggestions, for example, that Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S., but that wasn’t true. There was similar talk that Tehran was a week away from industrial-grade uranium enrichment, but that wasn’t true, either.......
And so, Americans have been forced to speculate in the absence of clarity. Is this about oil? Creating a distraction? Making the folks behind the FIFA peace prize look ridiculous?
A variety of observers have presented a variety of explanations, but let’s not miss the forest for the trees: Wars are not supposed to be riddles. The fact that the White House has initiated an international guessing game is itself a scandal for the ages.
On the eve of the war, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told NOTUS, in reference to Trump and his Iranian intentions, “He’s been very clear.” Before the offensive began, this position was absurd. Now, it’s vastly worse.