Cry 'havoc!"

Our Pentagon gamed all this out before;
the Persian Gulf's no battlefield we'd choose.
with Persians waging asymmetric war,
most simulations show we slowly lose.
Tom Jefferson refused to pay a toll
for shipping on a common route at sea.
But Trump now put the Persians in control
where we had sent Marines to Tripoli.
Two hundred years, free shipping made us strong
and wealthier than Lydia of yore.
But Trump can't tell his public he'd been wrong;
so bid your kids farewell; they're bound for war.
What Congress hasn't weighed turns on one man
wh manifestly hasn't got a plan.

Barbary Pirates

Trump's war in Asia's setting off alarms;
the Pentagon remembers getting stuck.
Advisors all got fired who duly warned,
predictably, our servicemen get fucked.
"Advisors" Ike positioned in Saigon
then requisitioned force, by increment.
Such baleful auguries point to Iran,
where native friends are likewise impotent.
Tom Jefferson would not prevaricate;
no foreign power'd get to charge us tolls!
But Trump gave up the game in Hormuz Strait;
IRGC's now wholly in control.
Elections loom, and Teheran hangs tough
as Persian diplomats call Donald's bluff.

Those who don't know history

Our admirals know well vanRiper's game;
their fleet's deployed, but still they hesitate.
Unwilling to reprise it all the same
that awful turkey-shoot queued in the Strait.
To launch a war--if Congress doesn't mind--
takes just a momentary fit of pique.
But where Trump leads, no allies march behind;
there's none to save him drowning in his Creek.
Trump's foreign venture doesn't play at home,
where memories of wars gone wrong are strong.
This New World Order, going it alone,
is judged by Right and Left alike as 'wrong"
November third, Americans can choose
to jump this ship that's foundered at Hormuz

those who don't learn from history...

The Persians saw no way to end this fast,
once aircraft carriers loomed off their coast.
But they'll have won, if they can merely last;
come January, Trump and Friends are toast.
Each line marked 'R's a loser in this race
They'd rather drill for gas and oil at home
This whole adventure's noxious to his base;
The most corrupt regime since TeapotDome.
The war he'd threatened Kamala'd embark,
Trump launched himself without a forward thought.
So cavalier, committing in the dark
We see what mid-East donors' dollars bought.
Reprising what he hadn't learned before,
America's subsiding in Trump's war.

No Deal

The Persians have pinned Trump against a wall;
they're in no rush to cede, or even bend.
Aware of midterms coming up this Fall,
and he'll pay through the nose for war to end.
They've got the world's economy in hock
and when this crisis ends, is theirs to choose.
The global orders not built for this shock;
its lifeline's been occluded at Hormuz.
Armed Serviees delivered what they're told;
it's not for them to choose which wars to wage.
Executives intent on oil and gold

bereft of strategy, act out of rage.
A war without a rationale in sight
could toll the deathknell for the rabid Right.

Don't call it "war"

Two trillion dollars to depose Saddam
on top of countless thousands who've been killed,
left Trump's excited to be dropping bombs
and skimming padded contracts to rebuild.
That war's a "racket" Smedley Butler taught
that leaves the planet poorer than before.
But Trump discounts the things that can't be bought
There's opportunity for graft in any war!
Kharg island might be just the thing to hold,
until Iranians lay down their arms.
If they'll just buy his crypto with their gold,
their daughters need not suffer lasting harm.
Insisting that his powers are immense,
Trump tries to hide the mind-boggling expense.

Persian prospects

The Mullahs cut the internet and phone
as if a world made deaf could not react
to evidence they're in this all alone;
like al-Assad, their patron's overtaxed.
Far-scattered proxies, doing Moscow's will
from Tartus to Caracas, and beyond
won't push on like they're underwritten still;
that stream of funds had been the only bond.
Transparency sustains democracy;
in darkness, counting votes would be a joke.
The underpinning of theocracy
is always violence, and fear, and smoke.
Two generations since Pahlavi fled
the price is on the Ayatollah's head.

apocalypse now

Mark Esper saw no shred of evidence
to justify Trump's failure to consult.
This Soleimani strike's the work of Pence;
Iran-Hawks are ascendent in Trump's cult.
Our Framers saw this problem long before,
reserving unto Congress the sole call.
Executives are quick to rush to war,
while foisting off the costs onto us all.
America's been slow to come to grips
with Generation Joshua's dark scheme.
We--who don't long for Apocalypse--
are damned to burn in Pompeo's wet-dream.
Pathetically, the orange demagogue
thinks no one sees he's playing 'wag the dog'.

Great Game

Initiative's Trumpty's for the nonce
To move towards Peace, or choose to push toward war.
Rouhani calibrated his response,
Debris smokes where our 'copters crouched before.
Distracting press from Trump's ongoing crimes
Seemed urgent, 'though Iran posed no new threat.
The existential menace of our times
is Donald; no one's likely to forget.
Pompeo's singing Flynn's bellicose tune
and Hannity invests in making Arms
But Tucker Carlson's not that kind of loon
and still hopes he can mitigate this harm.
This child who doesn't grasp "diplomacy"
may drag the planet into World War Three

strategy

Iraq wants U.S. troops to pack and leave,
because we can't be trusted to behave.
Ironically, it's easy to believe
that Soleimani's laughing in his grave.
The Persians see our empire in retreat
they're well positioned to exploit the lack.
A Western buffer country would be sweet,
in case the Sunni Arabs might attack.
One martyrdom advances Persia's cause.
And Trump has volunteered to take the blame
his blatant violation of all laws
has handed better strategists the game.
Now, only Pence can save us from Trump's mess;
 he never should have played Zarif at chess.

signs and portents

Impeachment looms, the mobs howl in the streets
a frantic president feels  pressed  to act
as soon as he's sent off these batshit tweets,
he'll tell "his generals" they must distract
Americans from his incompetence.
James Mattis always counseled more control
but maybe he was secretly for Pence?
Trump found a docile toady for that role.
Rouhani's heard this sort of crap before
and knows that Trump is--mostly--empty noise.
But voters rally to a foreign war;
and Persia's eye-brow deep in jobless boys.
pathetically, the orange demagogue
thinks no one sees he's playing 'wag the dog'.

projecting force

John Bolton's out; his schemes for war roll on
his acolyte O'Brien stays the course.
The planet's ills are all  blamed on Iran
on data misinterpreted, or worse.
A dozen players want to see this fight
from Netanyahu to the MEK.
The  surge in crude oil prices seems alright
if your exporting and not in the fray.
Iranians just want to live their lives;
the Mullahs kept the bargain, for their part
Obama's pact was scrapped by 45
It's not the Persians acting black at heart.
Domestic politics drive the world scene
demanding victims to the War Machine.

Donald the unadvised

John Bolton's man O'Brien's NSA
sustantively, no change from what's before.
The soporific patter of his trade
conceals a predermined course for war.
Some libertarians in Trumpty's base
may blanch at the unjustified expense.
But no one's gonna say it to his face;
the only tax they'll vote for's for Offense.
As arbiter of what's accepted fact
gatekeeper of the president's news-feed,
the post requires more than Bolton's tact:
advisor to a fool who does not read.
Trump only hires advisors dumb as rocks;
"intelligence"--for him--must come from Fox.

wag the dog

A Persian war may bring the Press to heel
that had been clamoring for Trumpty's head.
If he can't plagiarize Obama's deal
he'll bleat that they're dishonoring the dead.
A foreign fight might keep support in line
as dissidents demur to march, or speak.
Coerced allegiance while we're in war-time
appeals to Trumpty-Dumpty--'cause he's weak.
Bush-41 attempted this same hack.
When Glasspie lured Saddam to seize Kuwait.
But Schwarzkopf made such short work of Iraq
Bill Clinton left George gasping at the gate.
It's futile asking what this one is for;
since Carter, presidents each launch their war.

tot-in-chief

Sean Hannity's lost credibility;
he screamed to bomb Iran, but no bombs fell.
As if some fleeting whiff of sanity
moved Trump to bid Rasputin 'go to Hell'.
Steve Bannon's long since left, and took his kit
Trump worried we'd discern who wore the pants. 
Predictably, that bromance went to shit
with acrimony and wild coke-fueled rants.
No grown-up's ever really held Trump's leash;
advice elicits threats and screams of rage.
as long as Mitch refuses to impeach
he'll pout and strut his hour upon the stage.
Each month, a staffer flips, and pleads, and sings
but none reveals who pulls the puppet's strings.

rudderless

Trump's slavering for war when Hannity
is ranting on the White House TV set.
But Tucker Carlson's preaching sanity.
And so we haven't bombed the Persians--yet.
McDonnell-Douglas stock price tends to grow
on rumors that we're sending in our boys.
But no one's certain in this to-and-fro
who's setting policy, and what's just noise.
The world's economy's poised on the brink
for fear the tot-in-chief does something brash.
If Trumpty-Dumpty acts, instead of thinks,
The price of oil could soar, while markets crash.
Intent to show himself the peer of kings,
Trump can't discern how FauxNews pulls his strings.

used

It's time that we re-list the MEK
a "Terrorist Group" like we used to do.
Long years, they've kept John Bolton in their pay;
"our" Foreign Policy's set by their tool.
To frame Iran for tankers they've attacked,
won't fool a Sanders, Warren, or a Gore.
But Trump trusts Fox as if their crap were fact
and means to lead our nation into war.
Obama balked the powers that would use
our military to enact their ends.
But feckless Senators refuse to choose
and Hannity assures Trump that they'll bend.
A president enthralled with shiny bling
can't see the threat from those who'd pull his string.

out of his depth

The "fucking moron" tossed Obama's deal
expecting he could renegotiate
based on no evidence but his gut-feel
as if his Midas-touch made all things great.
Our allies warned us, he'd be on his own
if he reneged on what Obama'd signed.
New sanctions would be toothless, all alone.
But in his arrogance, he paid no mind.
For Putin, high gas prices mean more gold;
he'll gouge the Poles and Germans while he can.
Trump's sanctions reinforce his stranglehold,
suppressing competition from Iran.
In straits to vex the smoothest diplomat,
a world's entrusted to this preening brat.

old pro

Zarif could teach a Hogwart's class, or five

on how to get a price below a 'steal'

and leave the merchant grateful he's alive

and only lost his garment in the deal.

This man Trump thinks he'll out-negotiate
could sell a snowball to an Eskimo.
The egotistic fool, convinced he's great
has no idea how badly this could go.
At ease in half a dozen worldly tongues
each ambiguity's a chosen tool.
Where Trump can't finish sentences in one
a master haggler, picked on by a fool.
What madness drives this puerile orange brat
to try to scam a black-belt diplomat?

big league

Iran's Zarif denies he backs Assad
they're merely hand-in-hand against the threat
of al-Baghdadi, who insists that God
won't hear except from ISIL's minaret.
This man Trump thinks he'll out-negotiate
could sell a snowball to an Eskimo.
The egotistic fool, convinced he's great
has no idea how badly this could go.
At ease in half a dozen worldly tongues
each ambiguity's a chosen tool.
Where Trump can't finish sentences in one
a master haggler, picked on by a fool.
What madness drives this puerile orange brat
to try to scam a black-belt diplomat?