It is no mystery that the Trump Administration has some major hawks, and
that the likes of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John Bolton are
just itching for an opportunity to start a US war against Iran.
Weeks of mounting tensions with Iran saw Pompeo taking point on talking
up the escalation. President Trump would occasionally chime in on its
opposition to having a war, but Pompeo is still seen trying to coax Trump into some sort of military action.
He’s not alone after Thursday’s attack was called off, either. Media outlets are pushing Trump broadly about not following through, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is predicting that Iran will attack a US ship if a war isn’t started.
Then there’s Bolton, the hawk of all hawks. He both typifies the
administration’s effort to try to steer the US toward a conflict, and
President Trump’s dismissive response, as he mockingly suggested that if
it was up to Bolton he’s “take on the whole world at one time.”
Trump is not wrong there, and that is a reason not to listen to Bolton
on matters of war, but it also leaves open the question of why Bolton is
being kept on in a key position.
At the very least, Trump’s skepticism about an Iran war is keeping him out of the war so far. And yet, Pompeo et al continue to try to sell the narrative of Iran
being an aggressive enemy. It’s not clear how deeply committed Trump is
to avoiding a war, but we are likely to find out, because the people
pressing him to go to war aren’t going anywhere.
Trump on Meet the Press: “I have two groups of people. I have doves and I have hawks,. “John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him he’d take on the whole world at one time”
Well, you hired him.
It’s not “skepticism” keeping Trump out the Iran war. From his likely perspective, it’s concern that he might be *blamed* for starting an “unnecessary” war. What happens when he’s convinced it’s “necessary”? How hard will it be to convince him when he supports Israel and believes (or claims to believe) that Iran “wants nuclear weapons”?
His antipathy to Iran has been the one consistent message of his foreign policy along with his alleged desire to “get along with Russia.” Russia is a direct threat to his personal survival, so he understands that. Iran is not. Iran is full of “A-rabs” and “rag-heads” that his base despises and all his advisers tell him is a “terrorist threat” to the US and that they “threaten US troops” – which is why that is what we are reading in the media – because it resonates with Trump and will resonate with his base and the rest of uninformed US electorate.
Which is why it will be easy to convince Trump that he won’t suffer in the 2020 elections if he attacks “terrorists” – whether that turns out to be Hezbollah in Lebanon or Iran.
He just doesn’t want to do it without enough “justification” – in his ignorant mind – that he can avoid being blamed in the 2020 elections for going back on his “promise” not to start any new wars. Which really wasn’t a promise in any event, any more than Obama’s speech in Cairo shortly after his administration started.was a real hand reached out to Iran.
People need to stop believing Trump thinks about this stuff on any high level. He doesn’t. It’s all about him, him and no one but him (and people who offer his campaign or businesses money.) Everything else is secondary.
Thursday night, it wasn’t 150 Iranian lives he was concerned about – it was the scores of thousands of US lives who would die in the Iranian retaliation they told him they would do and the subsequent war. And most of all, who would get blamed.
He’s getting blamed now for *not* starting the war. He can imagine what would have been said if he blew up a radar station and Iran dropped 100 missiles on the Saudi oil fields before the US military could do anything about it because they weren’t ready for that level of retaliation (because there was no US air campaign going on to suppress it.)
I understand what you’re saying here, but that’s not the case at all. Iran’s a peaceful country that hasn’t attacked its neighbors in nearly 500 years. As far as nuclear weapons are concerned, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khameini issued a fatwa (religious decree in Islam) against the development, production and/or procurement of such weapons .. Thus, the enrichment of uranium and plutonium was done for peaceful uses (electricity generation and production of medical isotopes for treating cancer patients, respectively). In Islam – whether Sunni or Shia – a religious decree (fatwa) must be followed; and those who disobey are executed.
Therefore, Iran’s Nuclear Scientists must adhere to Khameini’s fatwa or face execution, pure and simple. They dropped working toward nukes and enriched uranium and plutonium to generate electricity and produce medical isotopes to treat cancer patients, respectively. The only country in the ME that has a nuclear arsenal is Israel.
It’s this reason DJT MUST continue to de-escalate the situation in the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz and lift the sanctions. Both Bonkers Bolton and Pompous Pompeo must be dumped immediately and replaced with peacemakers. Iran has every right to sell its oil to other nations, just as the OPEC countries do. The US has NO right to slap sanctions on Iran, who hasn’t threatened anyone. If the US wants to use sanctions on anyone, use them on those who deserve them .. Iran, Russia and China DON’T deserve them, neither do Cuba and Venezuela.
It’a amazing to me how you state “that’s not the case at all” and then reiterate all my talking points. Clearly you missed the entire point of my post – which seems to be a habit with you. I suspect you never even read anyone’s post, just quote them massively and add one sentence.
It would be amusing if it weren’t completely pathetic.
The final issue with your post is that Trump isn’t in fact going to do anything of what you suggest, i.e., de-escalate the situation. Nor is the US going to stop slapping sanctions on Iran. The US and Israel want a war and they’re going to get one eventually. That’s a disaster but there it is.
We have a child in the White House. He seems be capable of being motivated to do just about anything by the right person. His only real core values relate to maintaining layers of walls around his solipsistic ego. This is both (plausibly) good and very bad. If you can convince Trump that resisting war will make him look like a big shot, he seems legitimately willing to give at least a fleeting peace a chance. Then again, if you can convince this same weird bastard that blowing up the world will make his dick look big…. God help us.