The Streetcar that Could / Gallipoli that Couldn't

March 31, 2026 marked the second time that Washington, DC rid itself of streetcars. Before the present day, many wondered why the Nation's Capitol scrapped electrified rail transit in 1962. On the last day of streetcar service, we were reminded why: a streetcar cannot merge out of the way of a double-parker, a delivery driver, or a disabled vehicle. The lowly bus could; and that bus could travel into neighborhoods further than the end of the streetcar line. This streetcar was one of several Obama-era streetcar line launches across the nation, which seemed to be designed for gentrification of neighborhoods, rather than providing rail rapid transit. (Portland, Oregon has another such system in its Pearl District neighborhood). This streetcar building program did meet a couple goals: providing employment in the construction industry during the depths of the Great Recession, and fostering neighborhood redevelopment. It was a missed opportunity, however, to ignore traffic engineering principles that could have made the streetcar line into a fast and efficient trip. -- I realized that my last post concerend action in the Hormuz Strait, and refrained from headlining this post with the same topic. However, I have been watching movies and reading books about British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who served in that role during the Second World War. As a Minister of Parliament, he had in the 1930s been written off as a nostalgic warmongerer, in large part to his role in planning the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign of the First World War. Fast forward twenty years, and the bloody lessons learned became helpful resolve when facing total war on and adjacent to the home front. In the current Iran conflict, I feel as if the lessons have been learned, as to what the future of warfare will hold. How much has changed since Operation Iraqi Freedom 20 years ago, when we could be self-assured in our top-of-the line equipment. Expensive units today may not be the "best" in a given conflict. There is now plenty of hard-won knowledge that American military strategists can apply to slide decks, flashcards, and tabletop excercises. Here is a news article that name-drops Gallipoli: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/kharg-and-ghost-of-gallipoli-why-trump-risks-walking-into-iran-s-trap/ar-AA1ZwjrT