In the announcement by President Donald Trump of his preemptive strike on Iran this morning, he said that the campaign will take some time and cause the loss of some life. He has opened the possibility that by enacting the War Powers Act without Congressional approval, he may gain more dictatorial powers than he already has usurped from Congress. For example, he may suspend elections, thereby maintaining control over the Congress and the Supreme Court that he already has during this, his last term. But, if the war is prolonged, he could prolong his presidency like Franklin Delano Roosevelt did during World War II. Even to his death, like FDR.

But there is even a greater concern. He has unleashed a religious war between the religious right of the West and the religious right of the Middle East. It's all about morality. The religious right of the Middle East draws on the Quran to determine that secularization and worldwide brotherhood and freedom is immoral. Hence, converting Middle Eastern governments into religious states with strict laws harking back to the Middle Ages Muslim practices.

Israel and the Jewish state is on the religious right of the West. In the United States, the government has left Christian values for those of the Old Testament. Requiring students to go to schools with the 10 Commandments posted and prayer recited along with indoctrination of dogma more like Jewish practice and ritual than the open mindedness of Jesus Christ accepting everyone for what they were and their intrinsic value. The primary reason that the founding fathers required separation of church and state in the constitution of the United States of America.

With its alliances throughout the Middle East, Iran could enlist countries to its side who have been heavily armed by the United States. Those modern forces could be formidable if an area wide and even world war got started. So far, while obligated by NATO to come to the aid of any threat to the United States, the European Union has elected to stay out of this action. Probably because of lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan that the United States, despite rhetoric to the contrary by President Trump, he is now reversing. A typical tactic that he has used to justify previous mistakes with new ones.

An area wide war could become apocalyptic if the sides started throwing nuclear weapons around as tactical weapons and Russia and China got involved. Even having North Korea test their nuclear power and India having to use its nukes to protect itself from Pakistan.

I hope it plays out quickly and cleanly. I'm in favor of the Iranian people. I first had Iranian students, sent by the West embracing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for a free education at Marshall University in 1974-75. There was a beautiful and very bright young woman named Shareen Tabatabai, and her cousin, a tall handsome brilliant young man with a similar melodic name I don't remember, both harking back to their Persian ancestors. Adding a wonderful diversity to the mostly, West Virginian, students on campus.

And then, at Atlanta University in 1980 with several students studying for their MBAs as the Shah, being treated for cancer in Houston and later dying in Mexico, could no longer hold back the moral right of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. At the time, Iran was rapidly becoming westernized and a wonderful place to live and work. All those students trapped in the United States were cut off from funds from their country, afraid to go back because of retaliation to them and their families. Many in Iran remember how it was 45 years ago, and many young people have always rejected the oppressive moralistic right rules of the regime.

May the good people of the world rise and require that all governments be fair and democratic. That worldwide cooperation and free trade continue. The need for armies give way to well-equipped police forces to prosecute crime.

We don't need Armageddon. We don't need the end of Earth and life as we know it.

Copyright 2026 © Ronald W. Hull

2/28/26