At a rally in Michigan last Saturday for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, former President Barack Obama called the conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran "an unnecessary war."

He apparently dates hostilities as starting this year on Feb. 28, or, at the earliest, last June. He's off by nearly 47 years.

This war began on Nov. 4, 1979, when Islamic militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

The leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran made their war aims plain. Their 1979 constitution gives the army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the "ideological mission of jihad in God's way," which it defines as "extending the sovereignty of God's law throughout the world."

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Dear President Trump,

I'm writing about a title I think should be yours: Leader of the Free World.

The idea that there is such a thing as a Free World has become unfashionable, but I think it's worth restoring, and perhaps you do, too. Nations free of dictators' jackboots should be aligned and led by the American president.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to apply the phrase to the nations fighting the Axis.

During the Cold War, the term referred to those siding with America against the Soviet bloc. It meant allies followed Washington's lead and adversaries hesitated.

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The Norwegian worthies who serve on the Nobel Prize Committee have demonstrated dubious judgment in the past.

For example, in 1994, they gave Yasser Arafat a share of the Peace Prize for his "efforts to create peace in the Middle East." Six years later he walked away from the Camp David talks and the second intifada followed.

In 2009, they gave their gold medal to Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The prize came less than nine months into his presidency, when even ardent admirers would have been hard-pressed to cite achievements.

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Addressing Congress nine days after Sept. 11, President George W. Bush declared: "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there." He added: "It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

A dozen years later, President Barack Obama announced that what had become known as the Global War on Terror "like all wars, must end. That's what history advises."

History doesn't actually advise, though it can reveal patterns – and Mr. Obama drew the wrong one. Wars against an enemy driven by an ideology of conquest rarely end until that enemy is decisively defeated or abandons its demands.

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Does the name, Dmitry Medvedev ring a bell? If not, let me remind you. He was president of Russia from 2008 to 2012.

Perhaps you'll recall that, in 2012, President Obama told him that their disagreement over American missile defense in Europe could be resolved.

On a hot mic, Mr. Obama added: "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility."

Mr. Medvedev replied that he would "transmit this information to Vladimir."

Vladimir Putin was then Russia's prime minister so, constitutionally, Mr. Medvedev was his boss. But Mr. Putin had preceded him as president and would succeed him as president. There was never any question about who was the top dog and who the lap dog.

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