Postcard from Florida: The war hawks

My neighbors are fish hawks. The couple nests in a nearby tree. I hear them every morning. Last week, one of them perched itself on the top of my gazebo. It looked at me. Assessing if I was a danger. Maybe another predator. It probably thought I was not, because it then turned around and looked away. The equivalent of a shrug. In truth, I might own the deed to my land, but this beautiful bird rules here. Undisputed.

Hundreds of miles North of my Florida home, other predators reign. War hawks. In Washington D.C. I find it odd to be at war. I have been dragged in without my consent. I do not like it. One number haunts me ever since the USA and Israel have started their bombing campaign against Iran. 168. 168. 168.

On February 28th 2026, on the very first day of strikes against Iranian military infrastructure and power centers, 5 Tomahawk missiles hit the city of Minab, in the South of Iran. 4 of them destroyed buildings that belonged to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp. The 5th one obliterated the Shajareh Tayyiba girl school, 200 feet away. It killed 14 teachers and 168 children.

As a military man, I cannot help but wonder. Not why. There is no why in this story. Just how and who. We know that there was no immediate and present danger prompting the USA to launch a preemptive strike. This was a war of choice. The questions are many: who picked the intelligence that was used to select these specific targets? Who reviewed it? Who gave the green light to hit the school? And during daytime? Who missed the fact that the information was outdated? That the school building had not been part of Revolutionary Guards compound since 2016? I realized that the men who did that are my neighbors. They live here in Tampa. They work for US Central Command, on McDill Air Force Base, a few miles from my backyard.

On the very first day of operations, they killed 168 girls. 14 teachers. And became war criminals. I do not think they should bear the blame. No, the blame is to be put on men in Washington D.C. Men that confuse cruelty for toughness. Men who have very little understanding of the world. Men who are trying to bring simple answers to complicated world issues. Men who believe that they are gods. I despise them.

They have invited recrimination and retribution. I cannot imagine what would happen if the Iranians established a small presence in Cuba. If they launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Florida. And if one of these missiles hit inside of MacDill Air Force Base. If it hit the Elementary and Middle School located on the base…

I am also ticked off by the so-called-plan to send troops on the ground in Iran. My niece, Corinne, is married to a communication specialist from the 82nd airborne division in Fort Bragg. Her husband, Sam, is on his way to the Middle East already. There is no reason to put any one of our kids or any of our soldiers in harm’s way.

The world is looking at us. It understands one thing that not everybody in this country sees. We are currently ruled by fools. Influenced by murderers. This war serves Israel’s interests. Which, unlike what people may believe, are not the USA’s interests. The United Nations have now officially labelled the war in Gaza as a genocide. It is time we stop being associated with murderers and withdraw. It is time we resist the war hawks in Washington D.C.