On Saturday, the bodies of six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers killed last week in an Iranian drone

strike in Kuwait arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Some of them had served for nearly two

decades. The youngest was just 20 years old. Each of them

leaves behind grieving families and communities. And with Donald Trump signaling that he intends

to escalate this war of his own choice, it almost certainly means more such arrivals of bodies

will occur. Or as Donald Trump himself put it, quote, some people will die, end quote. In fact,

the way he said it, you'd think he was talking about the weather. Sometimes it will rain quote, some people will die, end quote. In fact, the way he said it,

you'd think he was talking about the weather. Sometimes it will rain. Sometimes some people will die.

The demographics of the U.S. military tells us that the ones who will die will almost certainly and

overwhelmingly come from working in middle class American families. This is not a war of necessity.

This is a war most Americans do not

understand the reasons for. But America has a long history of sending its servicemen and women

into wars that the public neither fully understands nor broadly supports, but reluctance to

spend blood and treasure on unclear objectives in war can be offset by something else, infusing the conflict with a good

reason, a clear purpose, a shared understanding of why the ultimate sacrifice is necessary.

In this particular case, there is none of that, not even a halfway coherent narrative to justify

our war with Iran, no clear objective, no real public support. So if the American people don't

understand this war and haven't rallied behind it, then what exactly is driving it? I have to step

away from the scene for a moment to speculate about at least one answer to that. You see, it wasn't

that long ago that groups in parts of the Middle East invoked extremist interpretations of Islam

to justify violence against the West.

Regimes like Saudi Arabia encouraged extreme interpretations of Islam that consider anyone who

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