This is the oldest mistake in Washington: treating the opening move as strategy. Bomb first, define success later, and assume the political debris will somehow arrange itself into a better Middle East. That fantasy has outlived too many presidents and too many graves....

Early Saturday, the United States joined Israel in launching a major strike on Iran, with President Donald Trump announcing that “major combat operations” were underway. The first thing Americans should notice is not the fireworks on cable news, but the emptiness...