Two of our moment’s three biggest stories, Iran and the Democratic presidential primary — the third is impeachment — have come together naturally, if awkwardly, several times in the past two weeks. The blue party’s candidates made strategic asses of themselves over President Trump’s standoff with Tehran from the outset, a matter on which I expatiate in my column.
But the two news strands tangled in a discrete and uniquely irritating way on Jan. 9 when Mayor Pete Buttigieg blamed the Iranian destruction of a Ukrainian passenger plane on an “unwanted military tit for tat.”
It is true that the Iranians shot down the aircraft because their anti-aircraft missile batteries were on alert in the confrontation with the United States. So, the plane and its 176 passengers died as collateral victims of the fight. Iran downed the Boeing 737-800 not exactly accidentally but without realizing what the target was.
What’s grating about Buttigieg’s comment, though, is that “tit for tat” intentionally suggests both a triviality of subject matter and an equivalence between the two things compared. The idea, according to the young fellow who thinks he should be president, is that the elimination of the world’s leading terrorist (responsible for more than 600 American deaths) is much of a muchness to retaliation by the terrorist state. Voters may regard this as an invidious comparison, as I do, and think that by itself, it casts doubt on the candidate’s appropriateness for high office.
Naturally, this week’s magazine is loaded with items about the conflict, as our cover illustration, “America Versus Iran,” makes plain. Jonathan Schanzer and Behnam Ben Taleblu examine the future of the shadow war between the two countries; the mullahs’ war machine still exits, but how will it perform with a new driver at the wheel?
Jamie McIntyre, the Washington Examiner’s senior national security correspondent, analyzes the leading role Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played in the decision to hit Qassem Soleimani and in the administration’s defense afterward. Pompeo had argued for months that the Quds Force leader should be eliminated, and in winning the argument, established himself as de facto secretary of defense. Susan Ferrechio reports from Capitol Hill on Democrats’ efforts to rein in the president’s war powers, and from the White House, Rob Crilly examines the political win Trump’s belligerent decision delivered.
In the Life & Arts section, J. Oliver Conroy reviews Serious Noticing, a collection of the best essays of James Wood, perhaps the most formidable literary critic of our time. Ian Marcus Corbin is moved to tears by A Hidden Life, a new film in which Terrence Malick turns his gaze away from the starry heavens above to moral law within.
Eric Felten, in an accepting mood (more or less), visits a Goodyear tire store, and Rob Long, in a less accepting mood, discovers the joy of being angry. Mark Hemingway accepts the comeback of jazz musician Kenny G.
