I would be thrilled to see regime change in Tehran. I have vivid memories of the 1979 Revolution. People on the left in the West cheered the fall of the Shah, who had modernized Iran but who was widely understood to be brutal towards critics.

Since 1979, we have seen the calcification of a religious regime that never holds elections, rules by force, permits no dissent, murders its critics, grants no rights to women, and subsidizes terrorism.

When Iranian students and dissidents rose up against the regime a few weeks ago, their resistance was crushed, and at least 30,000 people were murdered by the regime.

I should be cheering Trump’s decision to attack Iran, but I have a deep sense of foreboding.

Trump says “the people” should take control, but how exactly will that work? The military has weapons, not the people.

It appears that there is no plan for what happens next.

If the regime has the weapons and the Iranian people do not, the outcome will be preservation of the status quo.

It also matters that Trump went to war without Congressional authorization. Either the law is the law, or it is not. Of course, the military would lose the element of surprise, but the law is the law. If the law hampers military action, change it.