The 47th President’s Descent: 

Trump, Iran, And The Psychology Of The Quagmire – OpEd

March 15, 2026 
By Lim Teck Ghee


“We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise … We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time — Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today. They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!” — President Donald Trump in Truth Social tweet, March 12, 2026

Donald Trump’s late-night Truth Social blast on March 12 was not just another provocative tweet. Two weeks into “Operation Midnight Hammer,” it serves as a glaring and deeply disturbing psychological map of a leader realizing that “unparalleled firepower” does not equate to an easy victory or even exit strategy.

The Mirage of the “Single Shot” Victory

When the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes began on February 28, the narrative from the Pentagon—led by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth—was one of surgical finality by the “most powerful and sophisticated” military in the world. The data was, and remains, staggering:

The Iron Rain: As of March 10, 2026, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) reported conducting 150 strike waves consisting of approximately 2,600 sorties. Roughly 6,500 munitions (bombs and missiles) had been deployed against nearly every province of Iran.

The Decapitation: The death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and 48 senior IRGC officials in what Trump called a “single shot” was supposed to be the killing blow. The strike also killed the Iranian defense minister, the commander of the RFC, and the Secretary of the Iranian Security Council leading Trump to proudly announce that “they are all dead. Second or third place is dead”.

The Crippled Machine: With 60% of Iran’s missile launchers neutralized and the Kharg Island oil hub in ruins, the “maximum pressure” campaign appears to have reached its kinetic zenith. The Pentagon and HaKirya must be at a loss trying to justify what next to rain bombs on.

Yet, despite the targeting of fuel and energy storage; communication, electricity and water systems; airports, hospitals and medical centres; and residential sectors; and the destruction of a girls’ school in Minab with over 170 children and teachers killed which has aroused international outrage; the “total destruction” Trump promised and launched has yielded a paradox: The Iranian government and people are hard hit but they are not broken and appear unlikely to surrender.

The Psychology of the “Strongman” Trap

Future scholars will likely view Trump’s March 12 crude and emotional rhetoric not as a sign of strength, but as a “cracking up” of the presidential ego. Psychologically, Trump has always operated on the Art of the Deal—the belief that enough pressure will inevitably force a counterparty to the table.

In a real war, unlike in a real property deal, when an adversary refuses to capitulate despite overwhelming loss, a leader like Trump enters a cognitive dissonance loop. His personal insults (“deranged scumbags”) and the framing of war as a “great honor” suggest a man struggling to reconcile his self-image as the “ultimate winner” with the reality of a Middle Eastern quagmire.

The danger to the U.S. and its allies is two-fold:

Emotional Imprisonment: Trump is increasingly a prisoner of his own venomous rhetoric. To back down now would be a personal humiliation. This leads to “escalation of commitment,” where more bombs are dropped not to achieve a strategic goal, but to satisfy a psychological need for total dominance. The killing of innocents and infliction of suffering on the Iranian population has become incidental – a footnote!

The Cornered Adversary: By framing the conflict as a crusade of “complete destruction,” Trump leaves the Iranian leadership with zero incentive to negotiate. If the only options are “certain death” or “resistance,” even a degraded military and its supporting citizenry will choose the latter, potentially triggering even more “eye for an eye” retaliatory strikes on Gulf oil fields that could tank the global economy. An adversary dealing with an unpredictable leader publicly declaring that he is seeking its “total destruction” could counter with what it sees as justifiable action that may be more devastating than anticipated. Crossing red lines in war action is not just an option open to the American and Israeli side. What could happen if Iran’s supporters around the world and the U.S. choose radical and extreme responses?

Strategic Failure: The Cost of “Making Iran Great Again”

The humanitarian toll is more than an indelible stain on the administration, with UN experts citing the use of AI-guided heavy weapons in urban centers as a violation of international law. But for Trump, the greater threat is more than legal or political.

Instead of a “short-term excursion,” the U.S. is staring down a prolonged resistance that rallies domestic Iranian and international Islamic support around a martyred leadership. If this “maximum pressure” fails to produce a puppet government, Trump will have traded his legacy for a destabilized world and a strategic vacuum. If he puts American boots on the ground as some war hawks are suggesting, the arrival of large numbers of body bags in American airports is a certainty from which there can be no escape.

 
The Verdict

Trump’s descent into inflammatory rhetoric and what many regard as unconscionable action reveals a leader who has run out of moves. In the high-stakes poker of global warfare, he has gone “all-in” on destruction, only to find that his opponent – driven by a fervent and resilient religious ideology – can take any amount of punishment and possibly emerge the victor.


Lim Teck Ghee

Lim Teck Ghee PhD is a Malaysian economic historian, policy analyst and public intellectual whose career has straddled academia, civil society organisations and international development agencies. He has a regular column, Another Take, in The Sun, a Malaysian daily; and is author of Challenging the Status Quo in Malaysia.

‘This Labour Government needs to fix the Tory student loan fiasco’

Tom Clements 13th March, 2026

Editorial credit: Enrico Della Pietra / Shutterstock.com

Whatever reason you joined the Labour Party, a belief in social mobility is likely to be part of it. 

We share a conviction that someone’s background shouldn’t define them and that the state should make it possible for anyone to achieve their potential. 

That is the foundation that lay behind the New Labour government’s expansion of university places. For university education to be open to everyone rather than being the preserve of the already privileged.

But the current student loan system has created a perverse disincentive. Graduates, particularly those on Plan 2, are facing a debt that will spiral during their working life with up to 87% of graduates projected to not pay back their loans. 

READ MORE: ‘Education, education, education – not debt, debt, debt’

That means the majority of graduates paying back their loans at a rate of 9% on top of their tax rate and pension contributions. A whole generation of young people disincentivised to progress in their career or to increase their productivity. 

This is yet another example of a mess left by the Tories that this government has inherited. And, in a pattern that is becoming tiresomely familiar, a mess cheerfully ignored by the media – and the Leader of the Opposition – until it has become our responsibility. 

But that is the point of national renewal. To fix the foundations of our country so that it once again becomes a place where everything is possible for everyone. 

In Leeds Central and Headingley, we have the highest proportion of students of any parliamentary seat in the UK. It is right, therefore, that this becomes a campaigning issue for us. 

Recently, we agreed a motion to provide a structure for our government to deal with this issue and to create retail policies that will sell on the doorstep. 

Firstly, we are asking the government to unfreeze the repayment threshold. By maintaining the thresholds as they are, thousands of graduates are repaying their loans before they have a chance to earn the benefit of a university degree. As it stands, first year teachers and nurses are having to pay back 9% of their starting salary – preventing them from saving for their first house or joining their pension scheme. 

Secondly, we are calling for an Australian-style student debt cut. Inspiration from our antipodean friends shouldn’t just be confined to immigration. Last year, Anthony Albanese cut all student debt by 20% which wiped $16 billion from the loans of almost 3 million Australians. This would have a significant cost attached to it but, by lifting the burden of debt on recent graduates, would give people a sense that they might be able to repay their debt increasing productivity and aspiration. 

Finally, we are calling for an end to the 3% additional interest that Plan 2 graduates are paying on their loan in addition to RPI. 

This additional interest was planned by the coalition government to cover the shortfall caused by those who can afford to pay back their loan in full or those who will never pay it back. But let’s call it what it really is. This is a social mobility tax. It is ensuring that graduates who needed the loans to attend university are paying for those whose parents could afford to pay for them. 

We know that this is an opportunity for our government to win a generation of voters to our party and to show that Labour in government is delivering for them. We are calling on CLPs across the country to make the same demands. Join us by using the model motion below at your next CLP or BLP meeting and let’s change Britain together.

Motion on student loan repayments

Leeds Central and Headingley CLP notes that:
● Plan 2 student loans introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition
government are regressive and unfair.
● Graduates are paying 9% loan repayments each month creating a 37% marginal
tax rate.
● Additionally, interest rates change throughout the life of the loan 3% plus Retail
Price Index rate (3.2% in March 2025).
● This means that most graduates (current estimate is 83%) will never repay their
student loan.
Leeds Central and Headingley CLP believes that:
● University education benefits individual students, university communities and our
national economy.
● The current system of Plan 2 repayments is unfair, regressive and
disproportionately affects working people.
● Until tuition fees are abolished, any system of student loan repayment should be
progressive and ensure that low and middle income earners do not pay more
than higher earners.
Leeds Central and Headingley CLP resolves to write to the Minister for Higher
Education and Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask the government to:
● Urgently review the Plan 2 student loan repayment system to unfreeze the
threshold of repayments and ensure that it rises with CPI inflation thereafter.
● Introduce an Australian-style student debt cut.
● Scrap the additional 3% interest rate paid on top of RPI by Plan 2 graduates.
● Replace RPI with CPI for all student loans.
Furthermore, we will also work with other CLPs in university-linked seats to ask for their
support in a joint letter of support for this.

Opinion

Relentless scapegoating has created a hostile environment for British Muslims

Imran Hussain 

13 March, 2026 

'When a man walks into a mosque in Ramadan armed with an axe, we cannot simply shrug and move on.'

I recently stood at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons and said something that should never need saying in modern Britain: the toxic culture of Islamophobic rhetoric is putting Muslim lives at risk.

It came after a man entered Manchester Central Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan carrying weapons, including an axe. Worshippers were praying.

Thanks to the swift action of volunteers, we are talking about what might have happened. But that “might have been” should chill every one of us.

Just days later, another incident took place at a Muslim community centre in Worcester. Another place of gathering. Another community targeted.

These incidents cannot be dismissed as isolated. They sit within a climate that has been growing steadily more toxic.
The climate we are creating

At Prime Minister’s Questions, I warned that every single politician and every single journalist has a clear responsibility to stop fanning the flames of hatred.

We cannot pretend language does not matter. It does. It shapes public mood. It legitimises prejudice.

In recent years we have seen a sharp rise in inflammatory and Islamophobic rhetoric from political and media figures. These public figures are pouring fuel on the fire.

Their vile rhetoric is helping to normalise Islamophobia in a way we have never seen before in this country.
This is not the Britain I know

Yet the reality of Britain is very different from the toxic picture painted by those national figures peddle division.

Across our country, Muslims are teachers, nurses, shopkeepers, charity volunteers, parents and neighbours. They work in our NHS, run small businesses on our high streets and contribute every day to the life in communities across the country.

In my own city of Bradford, a proud city of sanctuary, with divergent nationalities from across the world, where over 100 languages are spoken across the community, those from different backgrounds have lived and worked alongside one another for generations. My own family were part of that story. My Grandfather and other family members worked in Bradford’s foundries and factories, helping build the industrial city we know today.

Growing up in Bradford, I went to school with people from all backgrounds and faiths. I started boxing at 11. I spent countless hours boxing alongside people from every background, one of the few places I’ve never experienced racism. It taught me something simple but important: most people get along perfectly well.

Some of the most admired figures in modern Britain are Muslim. Mo Farah is one of our greatest ever Olympic athletes. Nadiya Hussain became a national favourite after winning The Great British Bake Off.

And Britain’s favourite food is curry – something so woven into our national life that it is hard to imagine the country without it. Much of the restaurant industry that made it popular was built by Bangladeshi Muslim migrants who arrived in Britain after the war.

Modern Britain has been shaped by communities working together – not by the division some try to promote.
The reality Muslims face

Yet despite this reality, it is Muslim communities who are paying the price for the toxic rhetoric we now see in public debate.

We saw it in the recent attacks targeting mosques and community centres. I see it myself every day. The barrage of Islamophobic comments on my social media is staggering.

Scroll through the comments under almost any post I make about anything, but in particular confronting Islamophobia, and you will find thousands of racist responses. On my recent PMQs post alone there were more than ten thousand comments.

“No Muslim should be in any place of power”

“You’re a terrorist in our country you shouldn’t be in government”

“You’re not even British”

“Imran, in reality you should not be an MP, this is Great Britain, not Pakistan or Bangladesh.”

And these aren’t the worst comments. I do not delete them or hide them. I want people to see them. Because the only way to defeat racism is to expose it and confront it.

But the sheer volume of hatred is shocking. I honestly do not think I have ever seen so much open and unapologetic bigotry in this country.

We must ask ourselves: where does this language lead?
A hostile environment

There is now a clear hostile environment facing British Muslims.

It has long existed in discrimination around employment and housing, but in recent years it has intensified dramatically, fuelled by inflammatory rhetoric from national figures.

British Muslims are increasingly scapegoated and blamed for everything from immigration to wider social problems.

Relentless scapegoating has created an open season on British Muslims.

Let me be absolutely clear: Muslim communities deserve safety, dignity and the freedom to live their lives without fear.

Full stop.

Twenty months ago, people voted for change. They voted to turn the page on the politics of scapegoating and division.

Sadly, things are getting worse, not better.
A line must be drawn

It is unacceptable that, in 2026, I have to stand up in Parliament and spell out that Islamophobic hatred fuelled by national figures is putting Muslim lives at risk.

Because Muslim communities are telling me they are frightened.

When a man walks into a mosque in Ramadan armed with an axe, we cannot simply shrug and move on.

As a country, we must act.

Britain is better than this.

Imran Hussain is the Labour MP for Bradford East

Growing Convergence of the Anti-Trump movement in the US

Friday 13 March 2026, by Kay Mann

The upcoming mass No Kings! demonstrations planned for March 28 and ambitious plans for May Day mobilizations point to the growing convergence of anti-Trump forces. This convergence takes place against the backdrop of Trumps’ destructive assault on democratic rights in the US and the sovereignty of nations abroad, most recently his reckless aerial attack on Iran, and plummeting approval ratings in the polls. [1]

Three centers of popular and working class resistance have emerged since Trump’s second election as president. The first is around the NGO dominated group -Indivisible-which organized the first two No Kings! Demonstrations in 2025 and has called for a third round of No Kings! demonstrations for March 28, 2026. There were around twenty-five million people in the streets around the country in the last demonstrations. The No Kings! demonstrations have been sites for the expression of anti-Trump sentiment on many fronts as seen by contingents and banners in the demonstrations including immigrant defense, Palestine solidarity (even if the official statements from Indivisible to do not mention Palestine/Gaza), the defense of LGBTQI+ communities, the environment, and of course general opposition to Trump’s march to authoritarianism.

The Anti-ICE Movement

The second center of resistance to Trump is the anti-ICE movement. The resistance of the Minneapolis anti-ICE networks to the surge of over three thousand ICE agents has captured the imagination of anti-fascists and antiauthoritarians around the world. The murder of Renee Good, an immigrant rights activist and US citizen murdered by ICE agents in Minneapolis, not far from where George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police office in 2020, and then of Alex Pretti, also a white US citizen a few days later set into process a vast protest movement that is shaking US politics. These mass demonstrations and the networks involved amount to the rise of a new mass social movement that displays all the features of a social movement. The first of these is its mass character. In addition to the massive street demonstrations, there has been mass participation in the solidarity networks. An astounding 25% to 50% of the local population in Minneapolis and St. Paul-next to Minneapolis have participated in the protests and networks of mutual aid.

The founding of new organizations is also a feature of a social movement. The anti-ICE movement has developed new organizations and drawn in existing organizations and networks of activists like tenant unions and networks established during the George Floyd protests of 2020. In addition to the networks themselves, coalitions of new and existing anti-ICE groups have developed such as in Chicago, where a city wide coalition of approximately 100 anti-ICE groups called the Immigrant Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) has been founded. Those groups have coordinated with the anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis in some cases through existing networks established by unions.

The anti-ICE movement is present not just in Minneapolis and places like Los Angeles and Chicago which have already had their ICE surges, but also in cities like Milwaukee, where there has so far not been a surge, but where an anti-ICE movement is developing in anticipation of a possible ICE surge.

The movement has involved an impressive level of organization and uses classic social movement tactics such as demonstrations and boycotts and novel variations on those. Neighborhood level Rapid Response networks have used Signal chats to link activists (most of whom are new to organizing) to arrange mutual defense work to bring meals to immigrants and other forms of assistance to keep immigrants safe from ICE patrols. ICE sitings are reported on the chats and activists rush to the scene to provide support and video document ICE activity. License plate numbers of ICE vehicles are circulated, and activists follow them in their vehicles. Whistles are blown by activists to alert others to ICE presence. The organization of activists following ICE vehicles in their cars recalls the flying squadrons used in the 1934 textile general strike and more famously the 1934 Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike.

Boycotts are being organized against the car rental company Enterprise and the Hilton hotel chain, which have rented vehicles to, and housed ICE agents. These are variations of “corporate campaigns” that have been used since the 1980s to put indirect pressure on companies by targeting their customers. High school and universities student walkouts against ICE raids have taken place throughout the country and more are being planned for May Day.

Scores of big unions like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Auto workers (UAW), and many local and national teachers unions such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), and the union federation the AFL-CIO itself have issued statements opposing ICE. In Minneapolis, these and other unions endorsed the January 23 and January 30 demonstrations.

May Day Strong

The third center of resistance is May Day Strong (MDS)- a network of left wing-led unions and union locals such as the Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU), and militant locals of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Minneapolis-has been organizing a day of action on May Day that involves a “general strike” school walkouts and boycotts. Three thousand people participated in a recent video meeting called by MDS to discuss May 1 actions which will involve work stoppages, school walkouts, and boycotts. May Day this year will probably not be a classic strike with walkouts called by unions because of US laws against political strikes and contract agreements. But agitation for a general strike will stimulate discussion on the question of labor action including mass strikes and the necessity of opposing legal restrictions on labor protest.

It is very possible that May Day actions will resemble in some ways the 2006 May Day “Day without Latinos” which involved mass demonstrations in cities with large Mexican and Latina/o populations like Los Angeles and Milwaukee and de facto strikes attended by workers who called in sick or just missed work to demonstrate.

The US far left and the Anti-Trump movement

Beyond local anti-ICE militancy in Minneapolis and elsewhere, and the No Kings! demonstrations far left groups have organized and participated in demonstrations against Trump’s attack on Venezuela and most recently, the attack on Iran, and in solidarity with the anti-ICE movement. Groups with campist orientations like the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) have taken the lead in organizing demonstrations, with organizations like the revolutionary socialist organization Solidarity and others participating as well.

So far, the largest organization on the US left, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has focused more on electoral work than mass anti-war demonstrations and mass protests in general. But this is changing. Some DSA chapters participated in actions around Venezuela and ICE and there are indications that DSA will be active in opposing Trump’s war in the Middle East.

Prospects for Unifying the Anti-Trump movement

The social and political climate in the country today has created a huge space for resistance. Neither the anti-immigrant campaign nor the war on Iraq will make the Epstein affair go away or working people forget about the high cost of living, which will be exacerbated by the rising oil prices that will result as the entire Middle East is enveloped in war. Unlike the Venezuela operation the war on Iran promises to be an extended affair. Polls already show little support and much opposition to the attack. The war will also accelerate disaffection with Trump among the MAGA base and some elected Republican party officials who were promised an end to Iraq style military engagements.

The anti-ICE movement in Minneapolis and around the country has sunk deep roots into working class communities. These experiences will make indelible marks on the consciousness of millions, opening many of their minds to radical social and political analyses and programs.

The overwhelmingly working class composition of the Latina/o immigrant population in the US creates the basis for moving mass consciousness beyond defense of one’s neighbors as many involved in the anti-ICE movement see their activity, to more class conscious based understanding of anti-Trumpism. Socialists and class struggle oriented unionists will emphasize the class nature of Trump’s attack and the working class composition of the immigrant communities under attack.

Uniting the various strands of the loose anti-Trump coalition of mass No Kings! which reflect general and sectoral resistance to Trump and the anti-ICE movement under democratic working class leadership independent of the Democratic party would be a powerful step forward for the anti-Trump movement. But there are challenges. Indivisible is a top down affair with decisions made by the NGOs rather than a democratic movement, and its leaders openly display their pro-Democratic Party (DP) sympathies and intentions to use the demonstrations in support of the DP.

May Day Strong may be able to play the role of connecting the No Kings! demonstrations and its various progressive anti-Trump elements with the anti-ICE movement in a vast anti-Trump movement with unions and the working class in the lead. The organizers of the March 28 demonstrations see that action as building towards May Day which will facilitate unity. But after May Day, there will be a strong push by Indivisible to orient the movement to support the Democrats in the November 2026 midterm elections which would have a demobilizing effect on the movement.

The potential power of the three strands of anti-Trump resistance resides in its mass character, its use of classic and novel tactics from the handbook of social protest, its deep roots in the US working class and oppressed communities, and its independence from the Democratic Party. Given the stakes in next November’s “midterm” elections, keeping the anti-Trump movement independent will be a major task indeed.

Footnotes

[1] Photo: Young students marching in Minneapolis.

• Kay Mann

  Kay Mann is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and a member of the Milwaukee branch of Solidarity.

To Stop US Militarism and Criminal Wars, We Need Universal Conscription

Millions of parents and at-risk young people facing a draft would, like Margery Taylor Greene, be shouting, “Over my dead body!!!!”

by Dave Lindorff / March 13th, 2026

Driving home from my coffee at the local food co-op in a suburb just north of Philadelphia, I passed by the gas station at the local 7-ll store. Now owned by a Japanese company, 7-11 is one of the largest gas chains in the US.

I found myself thinking how back in the early years of this century, when Venezuela was headed by the hugely popular radical leftist President Hugo Chavez, a brash and charismatic former junior officer in the Venezuelan Army who was elected and re-elected four times to lead the county. Some Americans boycotted the chain’s petrol pumps because they used gas from Citgo, a company majority owned by Venezuela. Others like myself, began only filling my car’s tank at 7-11s even if a cheaper gas station was across the street. The reason for both groups’ decisions was that Chavez, a leftist nationalist who nationalized the country’s long US-owned oil companies, and who had been briefly captured in a US-backed but short-lived military coup in 2002, had in 2006 denounced then former president and one-time CIA director George H. W. Bush at the United Nations General Assembly, saying, “Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of.” He followed by making a sign of the cross and then looking up at the ceiling, his hands held together in prayer.”

Chavez had good reason for denouncing Bush, as in 2002 a military coup backed by the CIA and the US government had taken him captive, holding him at a Venezuelan military base, only to release him when a mass movement of ordinary Venezuelans spontaneously poured into the streets along with many enlisted soldiers all demanding his release and return to the presidential palace.

Both right-wing Republicans and leftists like myself had compelling reasons for making our competing points of view using our wallets.

I’m reminded of that time because at least many Americans were paying attention back then to what the US government was doing in our names in other parts of the world.

These days, not so much.

Today, fully half of this country’s military aircraft fleet and 41 percent of available ships in the US Navy are stationed in and around Iran, which is being bombed and struck by missiles by the US and its US ally Israel. More bombs are were likely dropped on that country of 92 million by just one of the B-52 strategic bombers being used for this unprecedented onslaught than all the explosives expended by both sides during the entire 11 years of the the US Revolutionary War.

Yet wherever I go, in the supermarket, at the Post Office, in Home Depot — even in the food co-op! —there is little evidence that the US is at war with Iran, or even much awareness that it is a war that was launched by the US and Israel (which, because of the US’s provision of $4 billion a year of free weapons, is such a subsidiary of the Pentagon it might as well have an annex there).

In some ways the lack of discourse in the aisles or on the street, the seeming normalcy of the neighborhoods I drive through, which display the vista of a total absence of yard signs denouncing war or calling for peace, resembling the decade of likewise ignored US war on Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US war Vietnam was different. Nearly all people or families and communities then were personally impacted by it, especially by 1965, when I was 16, there was conscription, and the number of US troops fighting in that country, and the number of them coming home in body bags to cities, towns and villages all across the nation was rising. Whether it was young men facing being drafted, or if they had college deferments, their friends who didn’t, their parents, the young wives or girl friends of those drafted or at risk of being drafted, that war was never long out of people’s minds.

President Nixon realized the price he was paying in his popularity for the continuing draft and so, also faced with impeachment and possible conviction for war and election crimes, he ended it in 1973.

A draft resister since I turned 18 in 1967, when I committed myself to refusing military service or even “alternative service,” I was elated by the end to conscription at the time as was most of the anti-war movement, But as I look at the passivity of most of this country’s population during this current conflict—a military action in which the US is the aggressor—I’m rethinking my position.

If, with the White House in the hands of a psychopath who cannot even admit to being to blame as Commander in Chief for a targeted missile strike in the first minutes of his war which flattened a girls’ elementary school, killing 200 people, including teachers and young girls aged 7-12, we aren’t seeing millions of people piling into the streets to demand a halt, I think we really need to return to a military composed

primarily of conscripts. Every American family needs to have a personal stake (for the health and safety of their children) in US foreign policy, and because the trillion-dollar-a-year military budget has such a huge impact on social spending in the US), in domestic policy, too.

The Trump White House is refusing to rule out a draft, and also won’t rule out sending current all-volunteer troops into Iran, and look at the hue and cry that has arisen from the likes of former Trump backer Rep.Margery Taylor Greene: “Not my son! Over my dead body!!!!” With conscription, most mothers and fathers would be saying the same thing.

As long as the only thing angering Americans about Trump’s war crime of launching an illegal war of aggression against Iran is the rising cost of oil, we need to make it clear that the cost of war is paid no for oil but in blood.

Only a universal draft can do that.

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Dave Lindorff has written for the NY Times, Nation, FAIR, Salon, London Review of Books and Rolling Stone. Dave cofounded the LA Vanguard, ran the LA Daily News county bureau and was a BusinessWeek Asia correspondent. He currently writes a Substack: ThisCantBeHappening!. Read other articles by Dave.

 

Indiana signs landmark education law to advance data science in schools

Indiana is advancing public education with House Bill 1266, following December’s Indiana Call to Action Summit: Strengthening the Data Science Thread

University of Chicago

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INDIANAPOLIS, DATE  — Indiana is reimagining education for the data-driven age. Following December’s Indiana Call to Action Summit: Strengthening the Data Science Thread—hosted by the Indiana Department of Education and Data Science 4 Everyone—leaders have passed House Bill 1266 to make data science a fundamental part of every Hoosier’s education.

At the summit, educators, policymakers, and industry experts agreed: empowering students to reason with data is essential for future-ready graduates. Teachers explored new strategies to connect math, science, and social studies with real-world data, and heard from leaders in K–12 and higher education about the promise and urgency of this work.

 “At the end of the day, it was clear we have a lot of work to do to ensure employers in Indiana have the data-literate employees they need,” said Rick Hudson, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Southern Indiana. “As educators, we need to prepare students for the data-rich world they’ll encounter.”

House Bill 1266, authored by Rep. Robert Behning and sponsored by Sen. Jeff Raatz and others, will guide curriculum, teacher training, and support for schools statewide while creating a math pathway focused on data science and integrating data science across K–12 subjects and grade bands.

"Knowing how to analyze and interpret data has become as foundational as reading and math," Behning said. "Students need a basic understanding of data science in order to work in industries across the board. This type of curriculum will also lead to developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills that help in all facets of success."

Indiana’s focus on foundational skills has helped elementary students jump in national rankings in reading to No. 6 nationwide. Now, HB 1266 aims to bring the same success to math by guiding educators on math proficiency standards and setting instructional expectations from kindergarten through fifth grade.

The bill also leverages existing career and technical education pathways, requiring the Indiana Department of Education to create a data science track for high schoolers—teaching in-demand skills like AI engineering and computer science.

 

About Data Science 4 Everyone

Data Science for Everyone is a coalition advancing data science education so that every K-12 student is equipped with the data literacy skills needed to succeed in our modern world. Equitable access to data science education is an opportunity to open doors to higher education, high-paying careers, and an engaged community. Created by the University of Chicago Center for RISC and organized in partnership with The Learning Agency and the Concord Consortium, we support a growing community that knows that the data revolution has transformed modern life, and we need to prepare our students. 

US likely used AI in airstrike that killed 160 schoolgirls: Report

March 11, 2026 

A view of the debris of a school, where many students and teachers lost their lives on the first day of the wave of attacks launched by the United States and Israel against Iran, in Hormozgan, Iran on March 05, 2026. [Stringer – Anadolu Agency]

Artificial intelligence helped the US identify targets in the opening phase of Washington’s war against Iran, British newspaper The Times reported Wednesday, raising questions about a strike that killed more than 175 students and staff at a girls school, Anadolu reports.

The newspaper reported that in the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury, US forces struck more than 1,000 targets in Iran with the assistance of AI systems designed to analyze large volumes of intelligence data and suggest potential strike locations.

The pace, about 42 suggested targets per hour, has led analysts to question whether the speed of automated systems may be outstripping the ability of humans to fully verify targets.

The scrutiny follows a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab that killed at least 160 school girls and others.

Evidence examined by analysts suggests the site was likely hit by US Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Historical satellite imagery showed the school had once been part of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) complex but had been separated from it for nearly a decade.

Experts told the newspaper that outdated imagery or automated analysis could have contributed to the site being identified as a military target. The Pentagon said an investigation into the strike is ongoing.

The Times said the US and Israel are deploying several artificial intelligence systems in the conflict, including tools developed under the Pentagon’s Project Maven program, which uses machine learning to analyze intelligence gathered from satellites, surveillance aircraft and other sources.

‘Radical acceleration’ in AI military targeting raises oversight fears

Issued on: 10/03/2026
13:18 min

Speaking with FRANCE 24’s Sharon Gaffney, Elke Schwarz, Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University of London, warned of a “radical acceleration” in the speed at which military targets are identified through the use of AI, and how quickly action is taken against them. She said this raises concerns about the lack of human oversight, especially given that AI models have “25 to 50% reliability, which means they are wrong very often”.

BY: Sharon GAFFNEY