War? #342
By Hank Silverberg
Commentary:
The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities was inevitable. The Israelis and the U.S. have been talking about it for years, even while they negotiated with Iran over getting rid of its nuclear program and imposed sanctions as a penalty for not doing so.
The threat of an Islamic bomb has hung over that region of the world since the 1980's and was heightened after Pakistan produced one. But Pakistan's action was mainly to counter India's creation of a bomb and not aimed at Israel or the west.
Ronald Reagan bombed Muhammar Kaddafi's headquarters and other targets in 1986, in part because Kaddafi was supposed to be working on a nuclear weapon and presented a threat to world stability.
It has been talked about so much that in 2017 when I wrote a fictional book called "The Campaign," the fictional president bombed Iran. In that created scenario, that fictional president bombed some of the same sites that the United States actually hit on Saturday. What Iran has been doing is really no secret. If they want to, they can still build a bomb.
There are maps like this all over the internet.
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Having written this though, it is disconcerting that it was Donald Trump who took the action.
When Reagan went after Kaddafi in a pre-emptive strike, under the War Power's Act he called in the leaders of Congress for consultation and to get their general approval for the raid. He had to justify it to the Congressional leadership.
When George W. Bush went to war with Saddam Hussein in 2001, he also went to Congress, laid out his reasons and got a Congressional resolution to back his move. As it turned out, some of what he told Congress was not true; for example, Saddam had no Weapons of Mass Destruction--but at least Bush and Reagan followed the rules.
And that is what troubles me about President Trump's move. Once again, as he has done on many other things, he has not followed the rules.
Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who has a lot of experience on national security issues, laid out this issue clearly in his statement on Saturday's attack. Here's the most pertinent part of his statement, and the heart of the issue:
“There is no question that Iran poses a serious threat to regional stability, and the United States must remain unwavering in our commitment to Israel’s security and in ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. But launching direct military strikes without authorization from or consultation with Congress raises urgent questions: What is the president’s objective? How is he measuring success? And what’s the plan to prevent this from dragging our country into another open-ended conflict in the Middle East that costs American lives and resources for years to come?"
Right now, the reaction in Congress and across the United States is concern about Iran's response. The United States has 40,000 service members deployed across the Middle East region, and there are hundreds of diplomats and aid workers as well.
While the move to go after Iran's nuclear program may ultimately be in the best interest of the United States in the long term, like everything that Donald Trump touches, its legality, goal and ultimate motive remain suspect. Here is just one example of the disinformation campaign he has begun: Trump said Iran's nuclear facility at Fordo was completely destroyed. The Israeli military and a senior U.S. official have already confirmed that it was seriously damaged, but not totally destroyed.
The fog of war is often used to cover up or distract from other things like ICE raids, huge budget cuts and big tax breaks for the rich.
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For your information, here is a link to a copy of the War Powers Act passed after our disaster in Vietnam in the 1970's:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1543
News You May Have Missed!
It's very hot across much of the United States this week. That's not unusual during the summer, but a report just released https://www.igcc.earth/ which got very little attention, indicates that humans are on track to release so much greenhouse gas that we could cross a key threshold of no return within three years.
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| (Courtesy AdirondackCouncil.org) |
The bottom line, things are getting worse, faster.
The report shows that the rate of warming caused by humans per decade has increased to nearly a half degree, and the balance between the heat Earth absorbs from the Sun and the amount it sends back into space, a key signal of climate change, is accelerating.
The world is producing 46 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year, so the inevitability of the Earth getting hotter in the long term should come right around February of 2028.
The world did breach the 1.5 degree increase threshold in 2024, but it has leveled off. This time, the scientists say in three years it will crest that limit and stay there.
https://climatechangetracker.org/igcc
https://www.earth-system-science-data.net/
11th Commandment
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| (The Hebrew version which is slightly different than the Christian version) |
The laws are clearly designed to reintroduce religion into public schools, something that has been illegal since 1962.
Why is this a problem? Not all religions have the Ten Commandments as their foundation, and even those which do often have slightly different interpretations. So displaying any version would be an attempt to establish an official religion, which is clearly prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.
At the same time, Abbott signed a second bill allowing students and staff a daily voluntary period of prayer or time to read a religious text during school hours. That law, too, is likely to face a constitutional challenge.
In its 1962 ruling, the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court noted that "since Americans adhere to a wide variety of beliefs, it is not appropriate for the government to endorse any particular belief system." The majority also noted that "wars, persecutions, and other destructive measures often arose in the past when the government involved itself in religious affairs."
That ruling has stood up for over 60 years and has yet to be overturned.
This week's dump quote comes from Vice President J.D Vance. He was speaking about the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities:
"I certainly empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East. I understand the concern, but the difference is that back then we had dumb presidents and now we have a president who actually knows how to accomplish American national security objectives.
The absolute stupidity in this comment needs no elaboration.
My recent book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at: HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
My NEWEST book is now available. It is designed for use in Public Speaking and entry level communications classes.
Excellent comments thank you for your analysis. You are an important resource
ReplyDeleteIt is a thought provoking collection. A couple of points I particularly like: that the fog of the present war/campaign has a “distractive” character; and that the cries of success of the military attack are inaccurate because there is no measure of success. No fact checking is possible! As for J. D. Vance’s “ smart” comment, I just cracked up!
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