By Mike Bibb

"All warfare is based on the art of deception," Sun Tzu, 544-496 BC, Chinese military strategist.
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As the missiles fly back and forth between Iran and Israel, and chants of "We can never allow Iran to develop a nuclear bomb" fill the airwaves almost every hour of every day, to my way of thinking after we blow up their nuclear facilities can't they just get a similar device from someplace else — eBay or Bob's Bargain Basement Bombs— and attach it to one of their own rockets?

There seems to be plenty to go around. Besides, it doesn't have to be a big nuclear bomb. Israel isn't a very large country. Wouldn't several smaller ones accomplish the same thing?

Maybe something like a remote controlled "suitcase" or "car" bomb intentionally placed in select locations? Who says nuclear destruction has to arrive by an incoming missile?

Last time, we dropped a couple out of a WWII propeller driven airplane.

Then, we were the only nation who had a functioning atom bomb. Not true today. There are many options available and I'm sure Iranian military strategists have thought of them.

Heck, China, Russia, North Korea and others might be willing to sell a few surplus bombs for a discounted price.

Remember, keep your enemy guessing; deception is an intricate part of the game Mr. Sun Tzu advised us over two thousand years ago.

But only about 20 years ago we were fooled when told Iraq had "Weapons of mass destruction." Turns out they didn't, but we spent billions of dollars and military might fighting them anyway.

For the past few decades, Iran has stomped their feet, shook their fist and yelled "Death to America." True, they've killed us when an opportunity arose, and President Barack Husain Obama gave them pallets of cash if they promised to stop it.

They didn't. So, President Trump sent them a reminder notice on June 21, that we were tired of the b.s. A well-conceived and coordinated aerial assault on several of Iran's weapon's production complexes let their leaders know they were still on our minds.

What happens next is anyone's guess.

I was born, raised and lived through something called the "Cold War" — a clever handle someone thought up as an alternative to a "Hot War." Which we had emerged from after World War II.

But, still a war — of sorts.

Talk of nuclear bombs, bomb shelters and all kinds of scary stuff had people on edge. We'd seen what a couple of atomic bombs had done in Japan, and the memories were still fresh in the 1950s, 60s & 70s.

In the meantime, the Korean War kept our "military-industrial complex" (a President Eisenhower term) employed, followed by the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam and innumerable skirmishes have persisted since, right up to Russia and Ukraine bumping heads and Iran and Israel exchanging punches.

Often, money and material from the U.S. is involved in these conflicts. "It's just business" is the common refrain.

Seems any direction you look there's a fight going on between a country that has something another country wants or a bunch of folks simply don't like each other for one reason or another.

Nothing new about this. Been going on for thousands of years. As a buffer to the hostilities, we've had the League of Nations and the United Nations. Their success has been sporadic.

Now, bad feelings between Iran and Israel have everyone on pins and needles. President Trump is trying to keep the lid on a simmering pot of unpleasantness, fervently doing whatever he can to prevent it from reaching the boiling point.

However, if nukes — of any size and shape, from any origin — begin falling from the sky, then all bets are off as to how to stop it.

Should Iran be foolish enough to try their luck with a nuclear strike, their efforts will, assuredly, be met with a resounding counter strike and the aftermath will not be very comfortable.

If they're seeking martyrdom as a gateway to meet Allah, it's almost an iron-clad guarantee they will get their wish if they keep pushing our patience.