THE NEW YORK TIMES: A war that was intended to demonstrate the reach of American power has now done the opposite. It is a lesson in unintended consequences.
To hear President Trump and his aides describe it, the rush to withdraw 12 B-1 bombers from an air base in Britain over the weekend was a prudent precaution, in response to a threat they refused to describe.
It was no big deal, Mr. Trump insisted, and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, tried to wave it away by noting that the Pentagon is “constantly reallocating resources where they need to be.”
But to anyone watching the deployment of American power around the globe in the seven months since Mr. Trump decided to attack Iran, it was another glaring example of how, time after time, Mr. Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have been forced into retreat, pulling back military forces that had been deployed to the Middle East and Britain as a deterrent.
Over the past several months, as the conflict has dragged on, the Iran war has come to reveal enormous new American vulnerabilities, forcing changes that the Pentagon was not contemplating a year ago. But it has also proved a bitter lesson in the unintended consequences that have flowed from Mr. Trump’s war of choice. » | David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt | David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt have reported on American conflicts and geopolitical strategy for the Times for more than forty years. Mr. Sanger is a White House correspondent and Mr. Schmitt covers the Pentagon. | Wednesday, October 7, 2026
