US-Iran conflict echoes Iraq war mistakes, warns expert

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi urges access to Iranian nuclear sites after US strikes; says no radiation rise reported. 23 June 2025.

Chest-thumping “Mission Accomplished” claims by President Trump that he ordered the world’s biggest conventional bombs dropped on a sleeping nation of 90 million people were premature. To top it off, he bragged that Iran’s nuclear capacity was devastated and that the whole nation fired “not a single shot” back.

That rosy scenario was greatly tempered a couple of days later when the US Defense Intelligence Agency reported that Iran’s nuclear program was set back only a few months. The New York Times also highlighted the eerie echo of the Bush Administration’s “Mission Accomplished” claim in Iraq, which preceded years of struggle and loss.

The US withdrew from Iraq not with a bang but a whimper. Saddam Hussein never had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) as Bush alleged.

At least George W. Bush had the decency to wait a while before making his widely mocked “Mission Accomplished” claim after invading Iraq, which proved to be ten years premature. The US attack on Iran on June 21 was based on the same kind of hallucinatory paranoia about a non-existent nuclear bomb threat that fueled the Iraq War hysteria in Washington in 2003.

Both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the President’s own Director of National Intelligence denied that Iran has either a nuclear weapons program or enough high-grade uranium to produce a bomb.

Even the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Trump’s ally in Jerusalem, Bibi Netanyahu, admit that 60% enrichment is not 90%, the percentage required to make a bomb.

Administration advocates are therefore reduced to claiming that the US bombed Iran solely on “suspicious intentions,” which is exactly what the George W. Bush Administration used as a pretext to attack a practically defenseless Iraq in 2003.

A criminal charge based on that claim would get the plaintiff tossed out, if not laughed out, of every courtroom in the United States.

The marvelously choreographed US stealth attack on Iran, long urged by Israel, was based on protecting not just Israel’s security, but its total domination of the Middle East with US backing. There are two problems with that policy: neither a secure ally in Jerusalem nor a steady partner in Washington supports it.

Israel is a tiny country in a vast area and cannot hope to dominate the countries around it forever, as a glance at the map will show. The thin margin in the Israeli Knesset is sure to be unstable. Moreover, American support varies depending on public attitudes, budget constraints, a volatile Congress, and changing political parties.

The main reason for the 2003–2011 war—that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction—was false. The claim of the G.W. Bush Administration that the US faced the threat of a “mushroom cloud” over Washington was a wild fantasy. Vice President Cheney even said there was “no doubt” Iraq already had WMDs.

The idea that Iraq somehow supported the 9/11 attacks against the US was also untrue. None of the reasons given for the war were true—all were lies. The evidence was available and plain to see, but the war was started anyway.

The world was shocked when Israel attacked Iran, presumably with a green light from Mr. Trump, just days before diplomatic talks were scheduled. That deception is reminiscent of the deadly Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II while diplomacy was still ongoing in Washington.

The fact is that this war has been advocated and planned for decades by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. Using the World War II test for blatant aggression, Hitler and his Axis allies in Tokyo would be guilty, not Roosevelt. Today, the shoe is on the other foot.

Israel and the United States, acting in concert, have launched an illegal war of aggression (which defenders call “choice”) against Iran. No matter how many talking heads and newspapers cheer the attack, it was still illegal.

The UN Charter has been breached and the American Constitution violated. What are US citizens going to do about it?

Violence cannot make friends, bring peace with 90 million Iranians whose sovereignty has been violated, or enable Israel to rule the Palestinian people. Their watchword is sumud—steadfast resistance.