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President Trump deserves credit for resisting the war cries from neocons like Sen. Lindsey Graham and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after last week’s attack on two Saudi oil facilities. Pompeo was eager to blame Iran because he wants war with Iran and anything that can trigger such a war is fine with him. So he put the president in a difficult spot by declaring Iran the culprit: suddenly the president’s options in the media and in Washington were limited to “how to punish Iran.”
A week has now passed since the attack and Pompeo’s rush to judgement has been shown for what it was: war propaganda. That is because there has still been no determination of who launched the attack. Yemen’s Houthis took responsibility right away and Iran denied any involvement. We have seen nothing to this point that contradicts this.
President Trump likely understands that a US war on Iran will be his undoing as president. Who knows, maybe that’s what his closest advisors want. But according to a Gallup poll just last month, only 18 percent of Americans were in favor of military action against Iran. Seventy-eight percent of Americans – including 72 percent of Republicans – want the president to pursue diplomatic efforts over war. Iran has made clear that any attack on its territory will trigger a total war. The Middle East would be engulfed in flames and the US economy would be in the tank. Suddenly we’d see Democrat challengers pretending to be antiwar!
The message to Trump is pretty clear – war with Iran would be deeply unpopular – and it seems clear he understands the message. Just hours after his Secretary of State put the US on war footing with Iran, President Trump was forced to walk back Pompeo’s aggression. When asked about going to war with Iran, President Trump said, “Do I want war? I don’t want war with anybody.”
Unfortunately, with pressure on President Trump to “do something” even as Iran has not been found to have been behind the attack, the president has settled on two measures – one pointless and the other dangerous. On Friday Trump announced yet even more sanctions on Iran, leaving many of us to wonder what is possibly left to sanction. He also announced a deployment of US military forces to Saudi Arabia of a “defensive nature.” Why should the military be sent to “defend” one of the wealthiest and most repressive countries on earth? It is hard to see how putting US servicemembers into harm’s way – into a war zone – to defend Saudi Arabia can in any way make America great again. I believe most Americans would agree.
President Trump should immediately cancel the order to send US troops to Saudi Arabia and should immediately remove what troops are already on Saudi soil. Then the Saudis would understand that they must end their aggression against Yemen.
Attempting to placate the neocons is a fool’s errand, because they are never satisfied even up to and including war. The tide is turning in America – and even in Washington – against Saudi Arabia. After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a catastrophic four-year Saudi war on Yemen, no American politician is any longer in the mood to stick his or her neck out to defend Saudi Arabia. President Trump would be wise to use caution: it’s always dangerous sticking one’s neck out when the Saudi government is around.
you forgot the petro$😉
It’s easier to kill than save …
At this point, it’s clear BOTH foreign policy (endless war to support the jews) and domestic policy (outsourcing labor to make jews richer) will end up destroying America.
If Trump keeps the US out of war for his first term then he was worth the vote, even with all his gross defects.
In consenting to be Israel’s errand boy Trump has put himself between a rock and a hard place. If there’s ever negotiations Iran will likely demand the reimposition of the Iran nuclear deal which would force Trump to eat some crow since he claims it was “the worst deal ever” even though it met with the approval of Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul.
If Trump agrees to the term of Obama’s Iran deal then he would save face be telling everyone that he reworked it to make one of the best deals ever.
President Trump clearly wants to avoid war. He has chosen additional sanctions as an alternative. Additional sanctions, crushing for the Iranian people, could force Tehran’s hand. If they are so crippling as to pose a risk to the government’s survival there might be no alternative to launching a war. But the war would spread beyond the region, becoming a global conflagration. History warns of the perils.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
War with Iran will be deeply unpopular, it will destroy the world’s economy.
Say it like it is.
The Zionists are caught in a bind.
Even if the Zionists launch nuclear bombs against Iran, Israel is so small that conventional missiles from Iran, Iraq, Hezbollah and Syria will make them a smoking ruin.
This is the conundrum that the neo-cons are trying to figure out. Best of luck
The zion wet dream is over.
Where is Jizzlane Maxwell?
Seems to me that the Empire is in a position a bit like a man standing on a cliff that is starting to crack. If he stands still it may just give way under him and if he walks about, even away from the edge, he may cause it to crumble.
Always Trumpers will say anything to cover for him.
The author asks: ” Why should the military be sent to “defend” one of the wealthiest and most repressive countries on earth?”
So that when one of the American soldier die, there will be an excuse to start a new war with whoever we can blame?
Troops in Saudi Arabia helped bring about 9/11. Powers that be never seem to learn