Setting aside the fact that Donald Trump’s war against Iran is illegal under both U.S. and international law, there is no rational explanation for his actions. The claim that Iran was about to attack the United States is delusional, if he actually believed it, or simply another big lie. Either way, the war is extremely harmful to America’s security.
After giving any number of reasons for going to war, Trump made the claim that: “It was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn’t do it.” Pentagon briefers told Congress in a March 1 classified briefing that there was no intelligence suggesting that Iran planned to attack American forces. Trump was either delusional or dishonest in using this explanation for his snap decision to start the war.
In fact, shortly before Trump gave the attack order, the mediator handling the U.S.-Iran negotiations stated that the parties had made “significant progress” toward a resolution.
A more likely explanation for Trump’s decision to declare war is that he finally gave in to the continual urging of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch an attack. Netanyahu was likely unsettled by the possibility of a peaceful settlement and determined to foreclose that possibility. Trump obviously agreed.
Trump has little knowledge of history, particularly of the proven historic proverb that “it is easier to start a war than to stop one.” That is abundantly clear from his vow that there will be “no deal” with Iran except “unconditional surrender.” He seems to be oblivious to the untidy outcomes of the nation’s wars in the last 80 years–Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. The outcomes of modern wars are seemingly unending slogs that have drained our military forces, as well as our national treasury.
It might be well, also, for Trump to consider the history of Iran’s last great war. It was attacked by Saddam Hussien in 1980 and suffered through a vicious, grinding war for eight years that ended up with a virtual draw. The military deaths suffered by Iran in that ugly war likely exceeded 200,000, with almost twice that number of wounded. The country can absorb massive casualties and still maintain its repressive government structure. It will not be a pushover today.
We can bomb the daylights out of Iran all day, every day, but cannot force its surrender. Iraq is a good case in point. Without a massive commitment of ground forces, which would entail many dead and wounded American troops, there is no possibility of coming close to an unconditional surrender. To believe otherwise is delusional.
The absolute worst thing about Trump’s war is that it diverts attention and forces from existential security concerns facing the United States. The war in Ukraine is at the very top of the list. Trump has largely disconnected from the genocidal war being waged by Russia against Ukraine. Iran is simply a wild goose chase that diverts attention and resources from that threat. U.S. security depends on the NATO alliance which has kept the peace in Europe ever since the end of World War II. If we allow Ukraine to fall to Russian aggression, it will be a hammer blow to NATO and our nation’s security.
Here are the problems being exacerbated by Trump’s Iran fixation. The U.S. and its Gulf allies are exhausting their inventories of sophisticated anti-missile defense systems. Replenishing the supplies will take years, leaving Ukraine essentially defenseless, while Russia is relentlessly pounding Ukraine with missiles and drones.
Trump has removed some oil sanctions against Russia that will increase its income and prolong its war against Ukraine. At the same time, Russia has been providing intelligence to Iran to target U.S. forces. It makes absolutely no sense to ignore the great security threat that Russia poses to America, while expending so much of our military resources going after a country that poses no substantial threat to America.
One of Trump’s gripes against Iran is that its repressive government has killed somewhere between 7,000 and 30,000 of its own citizens. That is certainly a source of concern but it does not justify a declaration of war when there is no direct threat to America. If there is a bloodcurdling statistic that, combined with a threat to American security, would merit a strong response, it is the devastation that Russia has imposed on our Ukrainian allies. Russia has killed about 16,000 Ukrainian civilians. Ukraine’s military has sustained 250,000-300,000 dead and wounded. About 20,000 Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by Russian forces. That should be our focus.
There is not much that individual citizens can do to change Trump’s warmongering, but we can put the heat on our Congressional representatives to take action. The gutless members of Idaho’s delegation are all behind Trump’s military adventurism, completely heedless to the fact that the U.S. Constitution places the war power directly in the hands of Congress. We can all demand that they stop cowering in their offices and take action to stop this pointless war. Those who decline should be replaced at the ballot box.
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