Sentient Musings Daily - Edition 5.
We acknowledge the reporters like Helene Cooper and many others who have put these wars together in one article. Yet because of the newspapers fragmented style of publication, their stories are lost.
The Wars of the 2nd Trump Administration
Nearly a Dozen Operations Since Return to Office — What We Did, Who Died, What Was Accomplished — With Reporting From Helene Cooper NYT May 31 2026 and Others. The war in Iran is now widening.
The Places Bombed
1. Somalia — Feb 1 2025 — Soon after inauguration, ordered airstrikes vs Islamic State operatives northern Somalia. 2025: 100+ strikes vs ISIS and Al Shabab. 2026: 49 strikes so far.
2. Iraq — March 13 2025 — Joint US-Iraq operation kills senior Islamic State leader believed head of group in Iraq and Syria.
3. Yemen — March 2025 — Operation Rough Rider vs Houthi militia. $1B munitions first month. MQ-9s shot down, two $67M F/A-18s tumbled off carrier into sea. Pause May 5 2025.
4. Iran — June 22 2025 — Operation Midnight Hammer. B-2 bunker-busters Fordo, Natanz, Isfahan. Claimed obliterated.
5. Venezuela — Boat War — Sept 2 2025 onward — 59 boats bombed, 200+ killed. No evidence provided. Legal specialists say extrajudicial.
6. Syria — Dec 19 2025 — 100+ munitions 70+ targets to avenge 2 US troops + interpreter killed. Jordan assisted. Base handover April 2026.
7. Nigeria — Dec 25 2025 — Christmas Day strikes northwestern Nigeria vs ISIS.
8. Iraq — July 28 2026 — US-Saudi Joint — US and Saudi Arabia joint airstrikes vs Iranian-backed militias eastern Iraq — Saudi first direct public engagement in five-month conflict. 20 PMF fighters killed, 32 wounded across Baghdad, Basra, Nineveh. Targeted sites for groups accused of 30+ drone attacks on US forces and Aramco Abqaiq in 72 hours. CENTCOM defensive vs IRGC. Iraq condemns as dangerous escalation, violation sovereignty. Hours after US intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles targeting US troops in Jordan. PM Ali al Zaidi emergency meeting. Brent +3.44% to $81.46.
Raids, Captures, Widening Wars
Jan 3 2026 — Venezuela — US Special Ops raid Caracas captures Maduro, dozens guards killed, Delcy Rodríguez now president.
Feb 28 2026 — Iran — Operation Epic Fury — US-Israel war — hundreds killed, Iran says 2,000+ incl Supreme Leader, 13 US troops initially. Strait of Hormuz shuttered, gas soaring. Cease-fire April, now fragile, blockade enforced.
May 2026 — Nigeria — Joint US-Nigerian commando raid killed Abu Bilal al-Minuki. Scores killed.
May 2026 — Cuba — Blockade Devastation — Nimitz carrier group off Havana same day DOJ charges Raúl Castro. Cuba devastated by American blockade on food and energy — 20-hour blackouts, shortages, long lines. Arrival tightens energy stranglehold. War by siege.
WHY ONE ARTICLE MATTERS: Cooper pulled 7+ theaters into one chronology. Corporate media fragments. When you see it together, you see engine that keeps displacing.
Here's What We Have Actually Done
People and innocents who died — US injured and dead — 18 dead, 624 wounded, NSI classification — What was accomplished — Portrait
The Human Cost
Yemen — At least 31 killed March 2025 per Reuters, civilian deaths Sana'a coastal. $1B munitions first month, MQ-9s down.
Boat War — 59 boats bombed since Sept 2 2025, 200+ killed per NYT. No evidence, extrajudicial.
Somalia — Strikes winter 2025-2026, villages evacuated, humanitarian blocked.
Iran — Residential Bombing — Residential areas massively bombed by both Israel and America — Tehran, Isfahan. Iran states 2,000+ killed incl Supreme Leader. Blockade shutters Hormuz.
Nigeria — Christmas Day 2025 strikes northwestern, thousands killed incl many Muslim civilians. May 2026 raid scores killed, NYT could not verify civilians.
Venezuela Raid — Dozens Maduro guards killed Jan 3 2026 assault, government condemns as foreign-backed.
Iraq July 28 2026 — 20 PMF killed, 32 wounded US-Saudi joint. Seven provinces incl Baghdad Basra Nineveh. Condemned as dangerous escalation, violation sovereignty.
Our Own — 18 Dead, 624 Wounded
Syria — Dec 12 2025 — 2 troops + interpreter killed — Ambush Deir ez-Zor. Retaliation Dec 19 2025 100 munitions 70 targets. Dover transfer.
Iran War — Operation Epic Fury — Current Count: 18 dead, 624 wounded — CNN July 26 2026: When new Pentagon data combined with updated totals for Operation Epic Fury, 18 troops have died and another 624 have been wounded since US launched war against Iran Feb 28. Significant increase from previous peak 482 observed previous week. Earlier: As of May 13, 13 US service members died and 404 wounded in action. Death toll rose to 13 then 14, then 18 after new category Overseas Operations added. 4 troops moved to new category titled Overseas Operations appeared on DCAS days after names initially removed. Unverified reports put dead higher.
600+ Injured — Undercount Questions — WSJ: 400 wounded reached after seven weeks. USAFacts: 404 wounded. Latest CNN: 624 wounded. Pentagon quietly changes accounting, more than 140 additionally wounded recorded, four soldiers killed restored after questions. Democratic lawmakers Senate Armed Services sent letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requesting answers. Acting press secretary Joel Valdez called decreases temporary data disruptions. Lawmakers argued administration circumventing War Powers clock via ceasefire reset.
Plus — F/A-18 $67M jets lost — Two aircraft lost overboard March 2025 Red Sea, crews recovered. Weapons burn $1B first month Yemen.
Stated vs Actual
Stated: Stop Red Sea attacks • Degrade Houthis • Obliterate Iran nuclear Fordo Natanz Isfahan • Eliminate ISIS • Stop narco-terror • Capture Maduro • Broker peace • Candidate of peace.
Actual: Houthis fewer but vessels steer clear, insurance soaring. Nuclear sites claimed obliterated but dispute continues, Hormuz blockade persists, gas soaring. ISIS still operates. Drug flow continues despite sunk boats, no evidence networks dismantled. Maduro captured trial months away, Delcy Rodríguez interim. Mediation claims 8-10 conflicts varies. Casualty accounting questioned, NSI classification hides severity.
Unflattering Portrait of Commander in Chief
First term: “Great nations do not fight endless wars” 2019 SOTU, candidate of peace. Reality: nearly dozen operations, 18 dead 624 wounded.
Haberman & Swan — Regime Change — Showed document more powerful than Attila Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, relishing being in their company.
Nobel Desire — Reuters — Told Norway finance minister wants Nobel, said “They will never give me a Nobel — It's too bad. I deserve it.” HRes799 introduced, Israel Pakistan Cambodia nominated, Kremlin would support.
Analysis: In thrall to Netanyahu on Iran — Midnight Hammer & Epic Fury — and simultaneously in thrall to Putin on Ukraine per podcast Purging Generals and Hiding Wounded Soldiers. Wants peace prize while waging 8 wars, hiding wounded as NSIs. Hidden War Merges With Kinetic Wars.
What Were We Thinking?
Why Did We Fight Them?
In 2036, 2046, 2056 we will ask the same questions we ask now about Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria. The engine that keeps displacing outlives its reasons.
American wars have a distinct characteristic that you only see if you refuse to look at them fragmented — one carrier, one boat, one base at a time. Looked at close up, on the day, each has its press release, its acronym, its stated goal: degrade, obliterate, eliminate, stop, broker. Operation Rough Rider, Midnight Hammer, Epic Fury.
Looked at from a distance of ten, twenty, thirty years, the press releases fade. The acronyms are forgotten. What remains is stubbornly human and stubbornly meaningless.
Meaningless to the soldier who went because he believed the briefing. Meaningless ten years later when his knees don't work, his sleep doesn't work, and the country he was told would welcome him as liberator is now a line item in a DCAS database that quietly moves his dead friends from one category to another — from Operation Epic Fury to Overseas Operations starting July 7 — to reset a War Powers clock. Meaningless when his shrapnel and concussion and hearing loss and lung damage are typed as NSI — Not Seriously Injured — because he was not believed to be at risk of dying within 72 hours, so his wife is told he is fine to return to duty.
Meaningless to the families who lose their loved ones and are handed a folded flag at Dover, Tierney Cross photograph, while officials argue on television about whether 13, 14, 18, or 20 dead is the correct number, and whether 404 or 624 wounded is the correct number, as if accounting could make it less dead.
Meaningless to the people of those countries who are injured, maimed or killed — the 31 in Yemen, the 200+ on the boats, the thousands in northwestern Nigeria who are Muslim civilians killed in strikes said to be about Christians, the 20 PMF fighters in Iraq and the 32 wounded in seven provinces, the families under 20-hour blackouts in Havana because food and energy are blockaded, the residential blocks in Tehran and Isfahan, the school clearly marked where 160+ died including many school girls while Maven AI flagged civilian target and a small team at CENTCOM, pressured for speed, bombed anyway. Investigation underway. Always underway.
We have spent an enormous amount of blood and treasure on foreign lands with very little to show for it. We know the list by heart because we have lived it: Bay of Pigs — a landing that was not going to liberate anyone. Korea — a line frozen that never ended. Vietnam — a domino theory that fell apart on contact with jungle. Iraq — weapons that were not there, then a caliphate that was. Afghanistan — twenty years to return to where we started, with interpreters left behind. Syria — more than a decade of bases handed over in April. Yemen — $1 billion a month to pause on May 5. Now: Somalia, Iraq again, Yemen again, Iran twice, Venezuela on sea and then in Caracas, Nigeria twice, Cuba by siege, and Brent crude up 3.44% to $81.46 so someone somewhere profits.
The distinct characteristic is not that we lose. It is that we forget why we fought, and then we do it again with a new name.
In 2036, a child born today in Sana'a, in Shuaiba, in Sokoto, in Havana will be ten. In 2046, twenty. In 2056, thirty. We will be the old ones then. They will ask us: What were you thinking? Why did you fight them? And we will have no acronym good enough to answer.
Tomorrow's edition will try to answer the other side of that question — the suffering of people caught up in wars including America's wars. Not as numbers, not as DCAS categories, not as NSIs, but as people who had a home before we arrived with a stated goal.
If you saw it together, with memory — Bay of Pigs to Epic Fury, 1961 to 2026 — you would demand a different way. That is why we print on parchment that is meant to last 100 years. Trauma does not expire in 24 hours. A child displaced today will be a grandmother in 2100 still carrying it. That is why Edition 05 is The Wars of the 2nd Trump Administration. Not to fragment, but to remember together.
