A War of Attrition.
A new episode of 'Alternate Shots'.
Most people are hoping that Operation Epic Fury is successful. A new Iran — one that doesn’t oppress its people, export terror and stifle a thriving and open economy and culture — is devoutly to be wished.
Sorry to say, virtually everyone thinks that “new Iran” is not in the cards.
So what’s the realistic “best case” outcome of the war? How does the Trump administration get out of the war before it can’t? How does it describe “success”? Will Iran actually win a war of attrition (meaning not lose it)? Will high cost air defense systems be outmaneuvered by $20,000 drones? Will Gulf States exhaust their air defense systems, leaving themselves defenseless against Iranian drones? Will Russia emerge victorious from a war it’s not actively engaged in? How long before public opinion moves from disapproval of the decision to go to war to disapproval of the decision makers?
Richard Haass and I talked about all this yesterday afternoon. Our producer, Dale Eisinger, turned it around last night. Here’s the result.
‘Alternate Shots’. Episode #19. Richard Haass/John Ellis. Produced by Dale Eisinger. Recorded 3 March 2026. This episode is 31 minutes long.
If you prefer, you can listen to this episode (and all the previous episodes) on Apple, Amazon, Spotify and most of the other major podcast platforms).