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War

Is It War?

America's longest, most depressing game show

Austin Bragg, Meredith Bragg, Andrew Heaton, and John Carter | 3.7.2026 12:00 PM

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When America sends missiles and tanks into a sovereign country, is it war? Let's find out!

NEXT: America’s Performance Review

Austin Bragg is a senior producer at Reason.

Meredith Bragg is the director of special projects at Reason.

Andrew Heaton is a producer at Reason. He is the author of, most recently, Tribalism Is Dumb: Where It Came From, How It Got so Bad, and What To Do About It.

John Carter is a producer at Reason.

WarComedyEndless WarWar PowersWar Powers ActCongressExecutive Power
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  1. SQRLSY   2 months ago

    "Special military operation". Putin knows how to do this shit! Get with the program!

    Log in to Reply
    1. Fu Manchu   2 months ago

      Beat me to it! Can't wait to hear the usuals here justify boots on the ground or a Kurdish invasion that gets Turkey in the war.

      Log in to Reply
      1. JesseAz (RIP CK)   2 months ago

        And when no boots go in youll be right here right?

        Most of us who dont support mullahs are fine with the strikes decimating the largest global funder of berries. Our line is boots on the ground.

        Meanwhile you want to seemingly allow 40k Iranian citizens to die and the funded terrorism to continue. Bet youre a bug pallets of cash guy sarc. Know you wanted to keep spending on Ukraine.

        Log in to Reply
        1. TrickyVic (old school)   2 months ago

          Not on the Onion.
          Anti-fascists support fascist theocracy.

          Log in to Reply
      2. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

        Pretty sure the Iranian resistance, plus Israeli ground forces can handle what’s left of the IRGC. I know you’re hoping for the opposite. Since the only thing you care about is seeing Trump fail. Even if millions die because if it.

        You’re that pathetic and evil. Die.

        Drunken retard pinko.

        Log in to Reply
        1. Alberto Balsalm   2 months ago

          The Iraninan resistance has no weapons you stupid, fucking shitstain of a human. The only way to arm them is to put boots on the ground. Like Trump, you're too stupid to figure out what a quagmire this,most likely, will become.

          Log in to Reply
          1. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

            Israel is already in the ground you retarded cunt.

            Kill yourself.

            Log in to Reply
            1. Alberto Balsalm   2 months ago

              You got a cite, Shitstain?

              Log in to Reply
              1. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

                Read the fucking news you retarded cunt. They’re the ones that iced Ayatollah Asshollah.

                You’re a very stupid person. Did you know that?

                Log in to Reply
                1. Alberto Balsalm   2 months ago

                  He was killed by an airstrike you vapid, fucking shitstain of a human.

                  Log in to Reply
                  1. Neutral not Neutered   2 months ago

                    Sorry you are so angry because you lack the ability to think for yourself. If I was stupid and gullible and gaslit I would be angry too.

                    Perhaps try a mind exercise. Sit there and think of all the ways weapons can be delivered and from whom.

                    Next try and think how tough the IRGC will be when their weapons are all destroyed.

                    Now think about the nations around Iran being attacked and how they now are willing to join Israel and US to finish the job and have peace in the middle east.

                    Maybe you have not had anything worth fighting for in your life but the Iranian people certainly do.

                    You will be surprised when the ground revolution begins and you can apologize for being a stupid asshole afterwards.

                    Log in to Reply
        2. Vernon Depner   2 months ago

          The Iranian people will probably need some kind of foreign security force to protect them from the remnants of the military and IRGC during the establishment of a new government. Doesn't need to be US soldiers, though.

          Log in to Reply
          1. Kungpowderfinger   2 months ago

            We broke it, we bought it.

            Maybe “The Board of Peace” will lend a hand.

            Log in to Reply
        3. n00bdragon   2 months ago

          Just like the Afghan resistance?

          Log in to Reply
    2. Doug Heffernan   2 months ago

      How long does it need to go on before it's no longer "special" and just a military operation? There's no need to devalue the word "special", or else special things won't be as special anymore.

      Log in to Reply
      1. Quicktown Brix   2 months ago

        I agree. The "special" euphemism is offensive. We should be nice and just call it a "mentally challenged" military operation.

        Log in to Reply
        1. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

          Because you’re mentally challenged?

          Log in to Reply
          1. Quicktown Brix   2 months ago

            It's easy to spot the mentally deficient online. They make absolute, usually very broad conclusions based on limited facts and argue for or against groups and identities instead of ideas or policies.

            ..not to mention they tend to be the those that post the most, but with painfully repetitive narratives.

            Log in to Reply
            1. Neutral not Neutered   2 months ago

              True. The leftists are always creating fake news, lies and jumping to conclusions and then never redact their BS.

              Log in to Reply
      2. Incunabulum   2 months ago

        When every military operation is special . . . *none of them are .*

        Log in to Reply
  2. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

    Reason is really all in for the IRGC.

    Log in to Reply
  3. Incunabulum   2 months ago

    Not when its a Democrat President.

    Log in to Reply
    1. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 months ago

      They specifically said Libya, Korea and Vietnam; all started under Democrats.

      And heres a few articles when Obama went to war with Libya:

      https://reason.com/2011/03/22/candidate-obama-says-president/

      Log in to Reply
      1. TrickyVic (old school)   2 months ago

        Didn't detect the sarcasm?

        Log in to Reply
        1. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 months ago

          Nope

          Log in to Reply
      2. MollyGodiva   2 months ago

        The first US Military personnel into Vietnam was in 1955 under Eisenhower.

        Log in to Reply
        1. Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)   2 months ago

          More misinformation from China tony

          The first major deployment of U.S. combat troops into Vietnam occurred on March 8, 1965, when 3,500 Marines of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade landed at Da Nang to defend the airbase. While earlier advisors were present, this marked the beginning of direct, large-scale U.S. ground combat involvement.

          Log in to Reply
          1. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

            Tony has to lie so he can provide cover for his democrats.

            Log in to Reply
            1. Minadin   2 months ago

              Well, that and the stupidity.

              Log in to Reply
              1. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

                Yes, he’s a raving moron too. A medical trip to Canada to take advantage of their euthanasia program would do him a world of good.

                Log in to Reply
    2. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 months ago

      https://reason.com/2011/03/25/lost-in-libya/

      Log in to Reply
      1. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 months ago

        https://reason.com/2011/06/17/obamas-war-in-libya/

        Log in to Reply
    3. mad.casual   2 months ago

      April, 1961 - Kennedy approves Operation Zapata, which was the planned invasion of Cuba in order to depose Fidel Castro... not a war.

      October, 1983 - Reagan approves Operation Urgent Fury to protect American citizens in Grenada. The US House resolution cited the War Powers Act which triggered the 60-day timetable for cessation of hostilities... not a war.

      June, 1993 - Clinton fired 23 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Iraqi Intelligence Service headquarters in Baghdad response to an alleged assassination attempt on GHW Bush... not a war.

      August, 1998 - Clinton authorized Operation Infinite Reach firing over 100 cruise missiles into Sudan and Afghanistan in retaliation for US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The missiles in Afghanistan were alleged to have targeted a chemical munitions factory and Osama Bin Laden. The factory was later revealed to be a pharmaceutical plant and Osama, well... not a war.

      March, 1999 - Clinton authorizes cruise missiles and a bombing campaign as part of the ongoing NATO operations during the Kosovo War... not a war.

      We are currently 9 days in in Iran. Some 50 of their heads of state are dead. Their navy is crippled to the point that Sri Lanka is pulling them out of the water. Azerbaijan has been emboldened to speak up.

      I'm beginning to wonder if Americans weren't so much fatigued by the Gulf Wars/GWOT as much as they were fatigued by all the not-winning and incessant lecturing. Maybe a little column A, column B.

      Log in to Reply
  4. Kungpowderfinger   2 months ago

    GR_B YOUR _NKLES, _MERIC_!

    “I’d like to buy a vowel, Vanna”

    Log in to Reply
    1. mad.casual   2 months ago

      "U!" - Kungpowderfinger

      Log in to Reply
  5. Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)   2 months ago

    The president had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force because he could reasonably determine that such use of force was in the national interest.

    Was this Trump?

    No, it was Obama

    Log in to Reply
    1. Jack Jordan   2 months ago

      Don't look, I'll take your word for that. But "direct the use of military force" is very different from authorizing the use of military force. In Federalist No. 69, Alexander Hamilton emphasized:

      "The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States" which "in substance" actually "amount[s] to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and admiral of the Confederacy; while [the authority and power] of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all which, by [our] Constitution" is vested in "the legislature."

      Federalist No. 15 shed light on the meaning of war. War is the means of enforcing the law (supporting our Constitution) when our courts lack the power to do so:

      "Government implies the power of making laws. It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience. If there be no penalty annexed to disobedience, the resolutions or commands which pretend to be laws will, in fact, amount to nothing more than advice or recommendation. This penalty, whatever it may be, can only be inflicted in two ways: by the agency of the courts and ministers of justice, or by military force; by the COERCION of the magistracy, or by the COERCION of arms. The first kind can evidently apply only to men; the last kind must of necessity, be employed against bodies politic, or communities, or States. It is evident that there is no process of a court by which the observance of the laws can, in the last resort, be enforced. Sentences may be denounced against them for violations of their duty; but these sentences can only be carried into execution by the sword. In an association where the general authority is confined to the collective bodies of the communities, that compose it, every breach of the laws must involve a state of war."

      Log in to Reply
  6. JFree   2 months ago

    I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and deploy boots on the ground to Iran on Israel's behalf and I wouldn't lose a single voter.

    Log in to Reply
    1. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

      You’re so angry now that your dream of another Jewish holocaust has been shattered.

      Log in to Reply
    2. LIBtranslator   2 months ago

      Then Don John could walk up and shoot you, and not lose a single VOTE--which is much more important. With the Dems promising to ban electricity as the sane and loyal Climate Sharknado half of the looter kleptocracy, it's like having an opponent who takes a powder before even stepping into the ring. The Dems never even make it to the handshake before kissing canvas--unless they can raise $3B for vote-buying.

      Log in to Reply
    3. Mike Parsons   2 months ago

      As someone who isn't thrilled about war, I can accept some W's when they happen.

      Big W = crippling a terror state
      Bigger W = striking a blow against a backward, actual fascist theocracy who oppress the region, their citizens more than anyone else

      Biggest (pettiest) W = tuning in for the marxist muslim simps like Hasan Piker on the day the war started, and watching as it looks like he is going through the stages of grief for (what appears to be, from his demeanor) simultaneously watching the love of his life, his parents, and his dog die on the same day.

      These loser "America bad, Israel under every bed" traitors are so fucking butthurt that their little terror proxies are taking the fattest L possible. And that an unironic fascistic theocracy (contrasted to Israel and America, which they think represent this) is getting blown to smithereens on live stream.

      Seeing losers like Jfree on here get the big sads is great too. You fuckers picked the absolute wrong side of history, and itll be fun watching you have to hold that L.

      Id imagine there were quite a few commies in Russia that were saying "I dont care what anyone said, Stalin was always right. The millions we sacrificed on the way were worth it for his vision". That's what IRGC simps are. Dedicated to a lesser, losing, morally wrong, backward ideology that makes everyone under its rule worse off than freer, capitalist, actually liberal countries like the US (and Israel, for the ME).

      Cope, seethe, and hold every fucking L, you absolute losers

      Log in to Reply
  7. LIBtranslator   2 months ago

    BRILLIANT! A cut above even the high quality we usually get from this crew.

    Log in to Reply
  8. Kungpowderfinger   2 months ago

    I wonder if John Bolton has thrown his back out kicking himself in the ass yet?

    Log in to Reply
  9. Lester75   2 months ago

    It’s 891 million a day of your tax dollars. More debt for returns that don’t go to US citizens unless you are a defense contractor on Trumps good side.

    Log in to Reply
    1. Minadin   2 months ago

      No, just on Friday, Joe Lancaster said it was 2 BILLION. Daily. These numbers are beyond meaningless.

      The truth is, no one knows, and it's difficult to measure. What I wonder is, how much is it costing Iran?

      Log in to Reply
      1. SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad   2 months ago

        It’s cost them at least one ayatollah so far. Looks like it’s about to be two.

        Log in to Reply
      2. mad.casual   2 months ago

        These numbers are beyond meaningless.

        This Congress has worked 10220 days without passing a budget.

        Log in to Reply
  10. Uomo Del Ghiaccio   2 months ago

    It is quite simply WAR. The question is how long will the WAR be, how much will it cost us, how much it will cost Israel, and will it make anything better or only make it worse.

    Log in to Reply
  11. Incunabulum   2 months ago

    Congratulations guys, the Roach King has noticed you!

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1C6XQK3iJa0

    Log in to Reply

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