I like Tucker generally but agree with your take: “Carlson is busy wasting our time while he attacks a straw man. A one-off killing in the national interest is not a war.”
In fact, I think Trump’s approach will provide us with more flexibility and a greater ability to limit our involvement in Iraq. He is forcing the Iraqis to choose sides. If they choose the Iranian side and ask our troops to leave, well that is exactly what Trump has wanted to do all along. And without our troops in Iraq exposed to attack, we will have less at risk and be more free to strike Iranian targets with greater impunity. The point is that not every use of military power is a precursor to a quagmire. Tucker is unhappy about the prospect of a ground war against Iran that is not going to happen
He’s acting the part of a “concern troll” at the moment.
Reagan hit Qaddaffi with a jet attack and we didn’t get involved in a war in Libya.
(Hillary did decades later.)