Of all people, it is the man who railed so often against America's wars in the Middle East who saw fit to start what may be the most dangerous Middle East war of all. The man who accused his predecessors of waging endless wars in the region – wars he has called, in his own words, "ridiculous," "disastrous" and "destabilizing." Now Donald Trump, as U.S. president, is waging such a war himself, and Operation Epic Fury has the potential to become even more ridiculous, more disastrous and more destabilizing than any previous U.S. war in the Middle East.

The "short-term excursion" the U.S. president promised has turned into a catastrophic misadventure – a global crisis of historic proportions, the potential consequences of which for the hyper-connected world of the 21st century can barely be assessed. Certain realities, however, have begun emerging: enormous devastation across the region, waves of migration, emboldened adversaries of the West, shattered supply chains and a strangled global economy.

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In the first week or two, Trump gave the impression that he could end this war at any moment, whenever he, as he put it: "feels it in my bones." Oil and natural gas would resume flowing, and the world would return to business as usual – that was his message. But it hasn’t turned out that way. Nearly four weeks into the war, Trump's Iran adventure is beginning to resemble America's calamitous wars in Vietnam and Iraq – complete with attempts to fabricate justifications, obscure objectives and cover up failures.