Daily Herald opinion: The obliteration debate: It's natural to rush to judgment, but we won't know the impact of the attack on Iran until history unfolds

Hours after the United States' June 21 bombing raid on three Iranian nuclear facilities, a left-wing Instagram poster called @beingliberal shared a bit of creative satire in the form of a mythical X tweet by long-dead Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

In it, mimicking President Donald Trump's Truth Social post announcing the U.S. raid on Iran, Hirohito presumably declared the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor — hours after it occurred — to be a success and that the planes had returned safely, along with all the other colorful and perhaps jingoistic language Trump used in his post, including the odd “Thank you for your attention to this matter" sign off that the president had used.

The parody no doubt was intended to poke fun at President Trump and the unique form of his announcement.

We bring it up here not to join in the ridicule, but rather, to highlight a greater point this parody makes, whether intended or not: Had the political conversation been as free-wheeling in 1941 as it is today, the Japanese emperor very well could have made an announcement in the hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor celebrating how well it went. And in those hours so long ago, the U.S. forces without question were in disarray.

But of course, in the end, the attack on Pearl Harbor turned out to be a horrible miscalculation by Japan. Instead of diminishing America's capability, it brought us into the war. From the American perspective, instead of cowing us, it galvanized us to “never forget." It prompted us to abandon the isolationism that had kept us out of World War II, ignited our defense industry and united the country in a quest to defend democracy.

This is not to say that the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities will end up badly for the U.S. and the West. It is to say that despite the initial success, it is too early to know.

Remember how early victory seemed to come in the war against Afghanistan? And how eventually the Taliban returned?

Remember how quickly Saddam Hussein was defeated and we declared “Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, and how difficult the conflict became then with the unforeseen rise of ISIS?

It is too soon to say.

When the government declares that Iran's nuclear sites were “obliterated," remember how the evidence in Vietnam showed conclusively that the government — several administrations — had lied about how the war was going. This is not to say that the Trump administration is lying to us. It is to say, we do not know.

And frankly, it is so early that for now, it's hard to say how much the government even knows. And certainly, too soon to know how Iran will respond. We all hope for the best, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The administration at the moment is trying to discredit news accounts. That's nothing new. Politicians during Vietnam tried to discredit them too. At the moment, the administration seems to question the patriotism of news organizations even while conceding that the intelligence assessments those news organizations have reported exist.

One of the jobs of a free press is to question the government, not just to circulate its propaganda at face value. News organizations that do that — fairly and accurately — ARE being patriotic. That is their role. It is the patriotic thing to do.

At the moment, we don't know how much of Iran's nuclear bomb-making ability has been eliminated. Or if not, how much its nuclear program has been set back and for how long. We do not know how likely it is that Iran may rebuild it. Those are important things to understand. This may lead to a new era of tranquility in the Mideast. Or it could lead to even worse hostility.

The point is, none of us should rush to judgment. Not in celebration nor in labeling it a mistake.

Let's watch how this all plays out. Let's pray that it all ends well. Let's keep asking questions.