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Who Are the “Bad Guys” in this Iran War?

Who Are the “Bad Guys” in this Iran War?

Last updated on: March 20, 2026 at 2:02 am by Kermit Zarley

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Who Are the “Bad Guys” in this Iran War? 2026-03-20T02:02:39-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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29th Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Official Portrait (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

The Trump administration requested yesterday that Congress approve of an extra $200 billion in the Pentagon’s already enormous budget which is about to be $1 trillion total annually. Why? It’s for the Iran war. Secretary of Defense/War Pete Hegseth said in a press briefing, “It takes money to kill bad guys.”

But who are the Bad Guys? I certainly agree that these mullahs governing Iran with its Shia Islamic governing style are very Bad Guys and that Iranians would surely be better off without them. But are the Israelis and us Americans totally exempt from being Bad Guys? I don’t think so.

Iran Cites The Crusades & Propping Up the Shah

Yes, Iran’s mullahs point way back in history to the so-called Christian Crusades of Medieval Times that killed many Muslim people. Those Europeans were misguided in their Middle East adventures, which was focused largely on reclaiming Jerusalem.

Yes, many Iranian people hate Israel and the U.S. for other reasons, too. One is that the U.S. propped up Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Iran’s western-backed monarch. He was detached from the majority of Iranians. Many of them squandered in poverty while Shah Pahlavi lived in opulence. When the people revolted in 1979, the mullahs took charge to make Iran the only truly theocratic state in the Middle East. Its Shiite theology glorifies martyrdom “for the cause of God” as the Qur’an repeatedly states.

U.S. Partiality to Israel Mistreats Palestinians

Are those the only reasons why Iranians and their government leaders hate Israel and the U.S. so much? No, there is one more important issue—the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They hate Israel and the U.S. due to intransigence in solving that conflict.

I detest antisemitism; but I also detest anti-Palestinianism. I think this latter needs to be on the radar screen in the USA. Our present government has been trying to prevent rising antisemitism; but it should just as much do the same about anti-Palestinianism.

The democratic USA, with its honorable religious freedom, has done well towards Jews in providing a safe haven for them to largely live in peace and usually prosper. And since Israel became reestablished as a nation, in 1948, the U.S. has been Israel’s strongest ally, even aiding Israel financially about $3 billion annually since the 1960s.

Iranians Hate the U.S. for Being Partial to Israel

But this American support of Israel has resulted in a huge slight against Palestinians. The Bible says that neither people nor nations should show partiality but be fair to all. That is even the way God, is according to the Bible, even though Jews are God’s “chosen people.” But this term is largely misunderstood. It does not mean God favors Jews over other people no matter how they live. No, it means that God chose the promised descendants of Abraham to be a revelation to all humankind, whether in divine blessing or divine cursing upon these chosen people. Cursing? That’s right. Just read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, some of the most jarring, frightening holy writ you are likely to ever read.

The Iranian people, in fact most Arabs and Muslims, have rightly supported the plight of the Palestinian people in their desire to have their own sovereign and independent state. This is what I mean by God being non-partial and therefore fair in judgment. Ever since the Jews reestablished their state, Palestinians have been just as deserving to have their own state in the Levant as the Jews now have. It’s all about being fair. God made Palestinian people just as much as he made Jewish people.

But throughout the modern history of the State of Israel, its governments have largely sought to prevent the Palestinian people from having their own state. Here it is now going on 80 years that Jews have had their own nation and land, yet Palestinians are still wanting. This is a travesty of justice, and that is why the Iranian people and their mullahs hate the State of Israel and hate the U.S. for propping up Israel all these years without requiring it to settle the conflict with Palestinians by helping them to have their own state. The U.S. should be ashamed of itself in not treating Palestinians fairly due to its history of partiality to Israel.

Be Fair, Be Impartial, Because That’s What God Is

And to those Bible folks who push back against what I’m saying here by citing God’s promise to Abraham—”I will make you a great nation. … I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12.2-3)—I say you misunderstand and misapply that text.

How could the U.S. have been more fair regarding this Israeli-Palestinian conflict? First of all, its government should have declared long before President George W. Bush did that the U.S. favors the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Levant. Secondly, the U.S. should have attached conditions to its financial aid to Israel in which it would have required Israel to truly be involved in a peace process that made progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel almost never did. In fact, George W’s father, President George H.W. Bush, was the only U.S. president who threatened to stop American financial aid and selling Israel military weapons due to Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. Third, the U.S. probably should have placed restrictions on Israel about how it used weapons it sold Israel.

Conclusion

If the U.S. had done all of this, I doubt very much that we Americans would now be in a war with Iran, which in only three weeks has caused the biggest disruption to the global oil and gas industry ever and likely will lead to a worldwide recession.

So, Israel and the U.S. are not totally exempt from being Bad Guys toward Palestinians.

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