As we enter week four of Trump’s war on Iran, one thing is increasingly clear: There is no coherent strategy. No exit plan. And no singular explanation for why the United States is attacking Iran in the first place. Meanwhile, gas prices are climbing, economic anxiety is spreading, and the Pentagon has asked Congress for another $200 billion to keep the conflict going.

Trump’s reason for this war may have been his own “feeling, based on fact,” but the human cost has been very real. The U.S. is likely responsible for a strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed 150 students. Thirteen service members have been killed amid the war so far, seven due to Iranian strikes, and at least 232 have been wounded. According to Trump, “when you go to war, some people will die.” HuffPost does not share the president’s apparent apathy.SUPPORT HUFFPOST

Our reporters have been talking to active-duty service members, reservists and advocacy groups, and what they’re hearing is alarming. Troops are describing vulnerability, overwhelming stress and a disillusionment so deep that some are walking away from military service altogether. One service member told us a potential ground operation would be “an absolute disaster.” A veteran and reservist told HuffPost her contacts are expressing a loss of faith to a new degree. “I’m hearing out of service members’ mouths the words, ‘We do not want to die for Israel — we don’t want to be political pawns,’” she said.

HuffPost is committed to reporting news this administration would rather keep buried. But that work is under threat. Trump has called reporting about what’s happening in Iran “corrupt” and “unpatriotic.” He has boasted openly about ”reshaping the media.” His FCC chairman is threatening broadcasters’ licenses over negative coverage of the war. The message to the press is simple: Get in line.

Some outlets are listening. We are not. But editorial independence does not come for free. Your membership is what makes it possible, keeping our journalism accessible to every reader, whether they can pay or not. In a moment when power wants the press quiet, choosing to fund the truth is its own act of defiance. Become a member today.

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