1/3/20: On the third day of a new
year, the president decides it might be fun to provoke a war with Iran.
____________________
Idiocy
has been a guiding principle.
____________________
With that, he orders a drone strike that kills a top Iranian
general, Qassem
Soleimani, a man known to have organized numerous attacks against U.S.
forces over the last decade and more.
Whether
or not this was wise or ill-advised we will know only as events unfold. We do
know it was risky. And if we look at Trump’s “thinking” on the subject of Iran
over the last few years, we come away knowing that idiocy has been a guiding
principle. Donald J. Trump’s tenuous grasp on the complexities and realities of
foreign relations bodes ill for the future.
Take,
for example, this tweet in September 2011. “The Iranians
have just threatened to send warships to our coasts. They laugh at us. We can’t
allow them to develop nuclear weapons.”
Trump wanted to make President Obama sound as if he were
weak. But Iran never sent warships “to our coasts.” Nor was there any proof
that they intended or even had the capacity to do so.
We had this Trump tweet that October: “Why aren’t we getting
any oil from Iraq before we leave? We are leaving the country wide open
for Iran. Big mistake.”
Yes, big mistake to leave Iraq open for Iran!
Since the drone strike that killed Soleimani was
carried out while he was on Iraqi soil, Iraq’s parliament has voted to expel all 5,200 U.S.
troops in their country. That would be “leaving the country wide open for
Iran.”
*
TRUMP
HAS made it a habit to offer up bold Twitter predictions, almost all of which
prove baseless. Our current president repeatedly said his predecessor would
attack Iran to insure his reelection.
11/14/11:
@BarackObama will attack Iran in the not too distant future because
it will help him win the election.
10/9/12: Now
that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in
Libya or Iran. He is desperate.
9/16/13: I
predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order
to save face!
In those days, when all Trump had to do was punch a few
buttons on his phone – which, come to think of it, is all he really does
now –
he was sure, if he were in charge, he could quickly resolve any problem. “How
far has the United States gone down when we are reduced to accept the imbecilic
deal just agreed to with Iran,” he tweeted in November 2013.
Obama, he said, should have, “Read THE ART OF THE DEAL!”
In February 2014, Citizen Trump offered up another heaping
helping of stupidity. “Do you think [Sec. of State] John Kerry is aware of the
fact that they are building nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea
and Pakistan already has them!!”
First, we should note that the Iranians never built a single
nuclear weapon while Obama and Kerry were in charge.
Second, North Korea produced
its first nuclear weapons during the years Bush 43 was in
office. Everyone who could read a newspaper knew that.
Third, North Korea has continued to expand its nuclear
arsenal in the years Trump has been in the White House.
Fourth, Pakistan started its nuclear weapons program in the
1970s and announced it had nukes in 1998.
*
IN THOSE DAYS, Trump could tweet about how everything would be
better if he were in charge.
2/23/15: The
talks between the U.S. and Iran are going on forever, WORLD’S LONGEST
NEGOTIATION. Obama has no idea what he is doing - incompetent!
3/31/15: Via
@FoxNewsInsider as seen on @foxandfriends: “Trump: Iran Nuke Talks
Should Have Taken One Day”
Yes! Obama should have worked out an Iran deal in one day.
You wonder why Trump’s not getting a deal done with Iran in the next 24 hours.
Or the last 24.
Citizen Trump kept attacking:
4/1/15:
Obama’s offer to Iran will not stop Iran’s breakout capability.
It is a bad, desperate deal negotiated from weakness. Pass sanctions!
So, let’s be clear, clearer, clearest. Nuclear weapons
produced by Iran during Obama’s eight years in office:
0.
*
DONALD J.’S grasp of the issues never went deeper than what
he might spew in a tweet. There’s no evidence since he took office that his
grasp of important matters is any more nuanced.
For instance:
8/11/15: The
#IranDeal is a catastrophe that must be stopped. Will lead to at least partial
world destruction & make Iran a force like never before.
Yet, we know the following countries and organizations signed
on to the deal worked out by the Obama administration. They believed it would
keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons until at least 2025:
China
European Union
France
Germany
Russia
United Kingdom
Now that Trump has backed out of the deal the Iranians have
said they will begin breaching treaty limits and produce as much nuclear
fuel as they like.
*
 |
Hiroshima after being hit by an atomic bomb.
All discussions of nuclear war should be conducted by serious individuals.
Not Twitter dopes. |
WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP it’s impossible to tell where he stands
on basic policy. Does he, for instance, care what happens to the people of the
Middle East? Or does he only care about oil? When he first took office, Trump
was on an anti-Muslim crusade. His base was terrified. They believed Obama was
a Muslim. All the Muslims in the world were out to kill us!
Many
refugees from these countries were Christians.
So, we had to block immigration entirely from the Muslim
world. Trump tweeted simplistic warning:
2/12/17: 72% of
refugees admitted into U.S. (2/3 -2/11) during COURT BREAK-DOWN [the federal
courts had blocked a travel ban implemented by the Trump administration] are
from 7 countries: SYRIA, IRAQ, SOMALIA, IRAN, SUDAN, LIBYA & YEMEN
Our newly-elected president should have known that many refugees from these countries were Christians. Many
were Muslims, but had worked for the U.S. military. That made them unpopular in
their own countries. They sought safety in America, a nation they helped during
the war.
Eventually, he realized that not all Muslims were bad. He
decided he liked Iranians if they protested against their government:
12/31/17: Big
protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their
money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they
will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights
violations!
Of course, under Trump administration policies, if any
leaders of those protests might need to flee to avoid arrest or execution, they
would not be welcome as refugees in this country.
*
WHAT ABOUT OBAMA? When it came to dealing with Iran, Trump
wanted us to know that Obama was weak and pathetic.
Trump was a stud:
7/8/18:
Iranian Harassment of U.S. Warships: 2015: 22 [incidents] 2016: 36 2017: 14
2018: 0 Source: @USNavy
And with Trump you got bluster. In July 2018 he hit the caps
button and started shouting at the Iranians via Twitter.
To Iranian President
Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER
CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED
BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF
VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
Tweeting, of course, is not the same as conducting diplomacy.
So, you had to wonder when Trump was going to get around to working out that
“one day” deal with Iran. That was the one he promised he could pull off if he
were president. (Kind of like he said “repeal and replace” would be easy.)
Trump kept insisting that Iran was behind all kinds of
trouble in the Middle East. For once, he was right. Well, then, what better way
to stand up to Iran than to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria!
And to make that decision to withdraw so suddenly that the
U.S. commander in the region said he was caught by surprise.
Which meant Trump had to tweet on the topic:
Getting out of Syria was no
surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for years, and six months ago, when I
very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to stay longer. Russia, Iran, Syria
& others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there work. Time to
come home & rebuild. #MAGA
At last, we were bringing our troops home!
Or not.
Trump almost immediately reversed course and said he
was sending most of the troops he was pulling out of Syria to Iraq, and then
sent several hundred U.S. troops to eastern Syria to guard the oil. That’s a key consideration in Trump
foreign policy. He likes oil. He wants to keep oil. He wants oil to be safe. He
likes oil way more than he likes actual people.
There were reports in May 2019 that Trump wouldn’t listen to
advisers. He was too lazy to dive into details of foreign policy. He was too
impatient to listen to briefings. He was too incurious to ask questions.
Trump
talks (stupidly) about nuclear war.
These stories riled him up and he turned defensive:
5/15/19:
....Different opinions are expressed [in cabinet meetings] and I make a
decisive and final decision - it is a very simple process. All sides, views,
and policies are covered. I’m sure that Iran will want to talk soon.
That prediction also proved incorrect; but more bluster
followed:
5/19/19:
If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.
Never threaten the United States again!
(See also: “Fire and fury” for North Korea.)
We even heard Trump say he could end the war in Afghanistan
in ten days if he killed 10 million Afghans.
(Technically, since he was threatening nuclear holocaust, we
should point out that any madman could end a war in ten days, assuming he was
willing to wipe entire populations from the surface of the earth.)
Trump’s tweets often sounded juvenile:
6/2/19:
Hearing word that Russia, Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran, are bombing
the hell out of Idlib Province in Syria, and indiscriminately killing many innocent
civilians. The World is watching this butchery. What is the purpose, what will
it get you? STOP!
The Iranians were not dissuaded by a Twitter shout. An attack
was launched on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. On June 13, Trump had to admit,
“‘It is the assessment of the U.S. government that Iran is
responsible for today’s attacks in the Gulf of Oman....’ @StateDept
@SecPompeo.”
Nine days later, he ordered air strikes after the Iranians
shot down a U.S. drone. At the last minute, he aborted the mission.
Time for Twitter excuses. First, it wasn’t his fault he
couldn’t get a deal with Iran. It was still Obama’s fault, even though
he left office on January 20, 2017.
Iran cannot have Nuclear
Weapons! Under the terrible Obama plan, they would have been on their way to
Nuclear in a short number of years, and existing verification is not
acceptable. We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on
Monday.
Then we had this head-scratcher. “I never called the strike against Iran ‘BACK,’
as people are incorrectly reporting,” Trump howled. “I just stopped it from
going forward at this time!”
The vague phrase “a short number of years” was of course
telling. The signatories to the deal had agreed that Iran would not produce
weapons-grade nuclear materials before 2025. And international inspectors would
check up on the Iranians until 2030. By comparison, Kim Jong-un and the North
Koreans have accelerated nuclear production since Trump took office.
In other words, nuclear diplomacy is hard. Harder than “One
Day Deal” Donald ever imagined.
That meant threats would have to suffice:
7/3/19: Iran has
just issued a New Warning. Rouhani says that they will Enrich Uranium to ‘any
amount we want’ if there is no new Nuclear Deal. Be careful with the
threats, Iran. They can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten
before!
Iran responded by threatening U.S. naval vessels in the
Persian Gulf, whereas Trump had often said before that such threats during
Obama’s time in office proved that Obama was not respected:
7/18/19: I want
to apprise everyone of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz today, involving
#USSBoxer, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship. The BOXER took defensive action
against an Iranian drone....
Next, we had Trump lying. “The Fake News is saying
that I am willing to meet with Iran, ‘No Conditions.’ That is an incorrect
statement (as usual!).”
As it turned out, the “Fake News” people were only reporting what Secretary of State Pompeo and Treasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin had said. Trump would meet with the Iranians without
preconditions.
*
FINALLY, in December 2019, Iranian proxy forces in Iraq
launched a mortar attack on a U.S. base. The U.S. retaliated with airstrikes on
bases controlled by pro-Iranian militias inside Iraq.
On December 31, Trump tweeted:
Iran killed an American
contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will.
Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They
will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces
to protect the Embassy, and so notified!
....Iran will be held fully
responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They
will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New
Year!
Ah, that incongruous: “Happy New Year.”
So Trumpian.
Finally, the president ordered the drone strike and Soleimani
was killed. This meant it was time to tweet-praise himself. Where other
presidents had failed, he had not failed. Trump was the best!
The United States has paid Iraq
Billions of Dollars a year, for many years. That is on top of all else we have
done for them. The people of Iraq don’t want to be dominated & controlled
by Iran, but ultimately, that is their choice. Over the last 15 years, Iran has
gained more....
...and more control over Iraq,
and the people of Iraq are not happy with that. It will never end well!
General Qassem Soleimani has
killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time,
and was plotting to kill many more...but got caught! He was directly and
indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the
recent large number....
....of PROTESTERS killed in Iran
itself. While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, Soleimani was both
hated and feared within the country. They are not nearly as saddened as the
leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many
years ago!
First, a minor note, but one that goes to the heart of how
Trump communicates. How he came up with the idea that General Soleimani was
“responsible for the death of millions of people,” no one can know.
And, as always, in this tweet, we learn that the problems
Trump faced were created by his predecessors, not by decisions of his own. Gen.
Soleimani “should have been taken out years ago.”
Trump decided to issue more threats. On January 4, he warned
that the U.S. military had already:
....targeted 52 Iranian
sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years
ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran &
the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE
HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!
They attacked us, & we hit
back. If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we
will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!
At this point, Trump was barking out his ass. By treaty, the
nations of the world have agreed that attacks on cultural sites are war
crimes.
Secretary of Defense Esper had no choice but to come out and
tell reporters that the U.S. would carry out only lawful attacks.
Next, Secretary of State Pompeo showed up on TV and said Trump wasn’t going to order
airstrikes on cultural targets even though the president said he would. Pompeo
insisted that the real threat to Persian culture came from the ayatollahs in
charge –
which was partly true. He did not care to explain how Trump’s threat to blow
Persian culture to bits might appeal to the average Iranian in the street.
Stupidity,
the essence of the Trump presidency.
Last, but not least, on January 5, we had Trump at his most
clueless, talking about war as if he were playing a video game.
Here we have pure stupidity, the essence of the Trump
presidency, boiled down in one tweet:
The United States just spent Two
Trillion Dollars on Military Equipment. We are the biggest and by far the BEST
in the World! If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we
will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way...and
without hesitation!
No war has ever been fought by “beautiful equipment.” And
Trump was blithely talking about killing and maiming human beings.
How many Iranians might die, there was no way of knowing.
Other human beings, Americans, would carry the burden of the
fight. They too could be killed and maimed. You might have thought the
President of the United States would take this matter more seriously.
Within hours of that vacuous tweet, militant
Islamist forces attacked a U.S. base in Kenya. One U.S. soldier, 23-year-old Henry “Mitch” Mayfield Jr., and two Department of Defense contractors were killed. U.S.
commanders said the attack by the al-Shabaab terrorist group, a first in Kenya,
involved “indirect and small arms fire.” Six contractor-operated, civilian
aircraft were damaged.
“My son was a great man
and we love him and we’re going to miss him,” his father Henry Mayfield, told
an ABC reporter the next day.
That’s not “beautiful equipment,” by the
way.
