Consumed by Rage
The United States, which advised Israel to exercise caution in 2023, has now been consumed by the same rage.
The quote “consumed by rage” comes from President Joe Biden’s speech in Israel in 2023, just days after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out its Oct. 7 attacks. After recognizing the “shock, pain and rage” inflicted on Israeli society, he gave them a warning. “While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.” The two attacks mentioned differ in scale, psychological impact and political response. When militants from al-Qaida carried out 9/11, there was a unified response in the U.S., which initiated a “global war on terror”’ by launching large-scale invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. These operations lacked clear objectives and caused harm to civilians that created more enemies.
On Oct. 7, 2023, militants breached the Israeli border in 119 separate places, sending a shock wave through the country. The Israeli government and armed forces faced a serious crisis of public confidence, deciding to respond not only by freeing those taken hostage at all costs, but by destroying Hamas. In practice, this meant the destruction of Gaza, which is why the U.S. advised Israel to have well-defined goals and a long-term strategy in Gaza, instead of reacting impulsively and disproportionately.
Today, neither nation seems to understand that fighting terrorism only with military force, in the absence of political strategy, usually ends badly. The United States, after advising Israel to exercise caution in 2023, has now been consumed by the same rage. If the aims of “Operation Epic Fury” are to support Israel in its war against radical Islamism, destroy the Iranian nuclear program and its ballistic missile systems and bring about regime change, then these are incredibly ambitious goals, especially in light of intelligence mistakes and miscalculations.
It came as a surprise that Iran was able to respond to the first attacks on Feb. 28 in as little as under two hours. They used drones and missiles to target not just Israel, but American bases in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. The only way the U.S. and Israel could justify their attacks would be if they proved that the latter was anticipating an imminent Iranian attack. Given that Iran responded in just two short hours, we could speculate that Iran, reeling from its 12-day war with Israel in June 2025 and consumed by a similar rage, had indeed planned one. Still, their preventive attack must be justified, without deceit, to the international community.
Militarily, it is practically impossible to achieve so many objectives in a country that is three times the size of Spain and consists of four mountain ranges with peaks over 13,000 feet high. Its 90 million inhabitants, a majority of whom are Shiite Muslims, are well-educated in sacrifice and martyrdom. Iran is effective in combining both religious and secular repression and, separate from its armed forces, its Revolutionary Guard has 190,000 members. Which organization informed the U.S. and Israel that they would be able to exert pressure on the incumbent regime from within? Did they confuse Iran with Iraq or Venezuela?
The Pentagon knows full well that an exclusively aerial intervention would be incapable of achieving such extensive and complex goals. Yet, clearly, political decisions have prevailed. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel "Raizin'" Caine, is an adept F-16 pilot and retired three-star lieutenant general, who was given his fourth star by Donald Trump. On March 5, he delivered a “stark warning” to the president: “We don’t have enough ammunition to win this war. It would not be pretty.”
Given the ever-complex nature of politico-military relations, it is practically impossible to know what decisions are being made in the Pentagon “cockpit"; we are only able to infer changes when statements are made by senior leaders. Trump, who abruptly dismissed General Charles Q. Brown Jr. in February 2025 to appoint Caine as chairman, also appointed Pete Hegseth, a renowned Fox News presenter, as Secretary of Defense (subsequently named Secretary of War by the president). Hegseth was previously commissioned in the National Guard, having served in Guantánamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent some of this time working closely with the CIA, where he encountered Caine, then liaising between the Department of Defense and the agency.
Caine recently issued an internal instruction to generals in the Pentagon that bears significance. He commanded them not to applaud; instead, they were to remain motionless as if listening to the president deliver a State of the Union address, adhering to the rules of a nonpartisan army: not to cheer or react, but to appear stoic. “Don't applaud, but do as you're told,” he seemed to be saying. This is a good lesson in discipline when receiving orders, even when we may disagree with higher-ups.
However, when ethics are abandoned for epics, and when political power subverts rational military decision-making, it is not surprising that symptoms of strategic fatigue begin to develop.
The quote “consumed by rage” comes from President Joe Biden’s speech in Israel in 2023, just days after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out its Oct. 7 attacks. After recognizing the “shock, pain and rage” inflicted on Israeli society, he gave them a warning. “While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.” The two attacks mentioned differ in scale, psychological impact and political response. When militants from al-Qaida carried out 9/11, there was a unified response in the U.S., which initiated a “global war on terror”’ by launching large-scale invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. These operations lacked clear objectives and caused harm to civilians that created more enemies.
On Oct. 7, 2023, militants breached the Israeli border in 119 separate places, sending a shock wave through the country. The Israeli government and armed forces faced a serious crisis of public confidence, deciding to respond not only by freeing those taken hostage at all costs, but by destroying Hamas. In practice, this meant the destruction of Gaza, which is why the U.S. advised Israel to have well-defined goals and a long-term strategy in Gaza, instead of reacting impulsively and disproportionately.
Today, neither nation seems to understand that fighting terrorism only with military force, in the absence of political strategy, usually ends badly. The United States, after advising Israel to exercise caution in 2023, has now been consumed by the same rage. If the aims of “Operation Epic Fury” are to support Israel in its war against radical Islamism, destroy the Iranian nuclear program and its ballistic missile systems and bring about regime change, then these are incredibly ambitious goals, especially in light of intelligence mistakes and miscalculations.
It came as a surprise that Iran was able to respond to the first attacks on Feb. 28 in as little as under two hours. They used drones and missiles to target not just Israel, but American bases in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. The only way the U.S. and Israel could justify their attacks would be if they proved that the latter was anticipating an imminent Iranian attack. Given that Iran responded in just two short hours, we could speculate that Iran, reeling from its 12-day war with Israel in June 2025 and consumed by a similar rage, had indeed planned one. Still, their preventive attack must be justified, without deceit, to the international community.
Militarily, it is practically impossible to achieve so many objectives in a country that is three times the size of Spain and consists of four mountain ranges with peaks over 13,000 feet high. Its 90 million inhabitants, a majority of whom are Shiite Muslims, are well-educated in sacrifice and martyrdom. Iran is effective in combining both religious and secular repression and, separate from its armed forces, its Revolutionary Guard has 190,000 members. Which organization informed the U.S. and Israel that they would be able to exert pressure on the incumbent regime from within? Did they confuse Iran with Iraq or Venezuela?
The Pentagon knows full well that an exclusively aerial intervention would be incapable of achieving such extensive and complex goals. Yet, clearly, political decisions have prevailed. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel "Raizin'" Caine, is an adept F-16 pilot and retired three-star lieutenant general, who was given his fourth star by Donald Trump. On March 5, he delivered a “stark warning” to the president: “We don’t have enough ammunition to win this war. It would not be pretty.”
Given the ever-complex nature of politico-military relations, it is practically impossible to know what decisions are being made in the Pentagon “cockpit"; we are only able to infer changes when statements are made by senior leaders. Trump, who abruptly dismissed General Charles Q. Brown Jr. in February 2025 to appoint Caine as chairman, also appointed Pete Hegseth, a renowned Fox News presenter, as Secretary of Defense (subsequently named Secretary of War by the president). Hegseth was previously commissioned in the National Guard, having served in Guantánamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent some of this time working closely with the CIA, where he encountered Caine, then liaising between the Department of Defense and the agency.
Caine recently issued an internal instruction to generals in the Pentagon that bears significance. He commanded them not to applaud; instead, they were to remain motionless as if listening to the president deliver a State of the Union address, adhering to the rules of a nonpartisan army: not to cheer or react, but to appear stoic. “Don't applaud, but do as you're told,” he seemed to be saying. This is a good lesson in discipline when receiving orders, even when we may disagree with higher-ups.
However, when ethics are abandoned for epics, and when political power subverts rational military decision-making, it is not surprising that symptoms of strategic fatigue begin to develop.
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