WASHINGTON — No. No. No. No.
We are not going to war with Iran. Not if rationality has anything to do with it.
We are an energy independent nation, not a mercenary military force called out to put our sons’ and daughters’ blood on the line to retaliate for strikes against oil fields in Saudi Arabia, with which we have no military treaty. Conducting military operations against Iran for Saudi “reimbursement,” as Donald Trump proposed, is a terrible idea.
We have been at war in the Middle East for 18 years. Thousands of lives lost, thousands more ruined. Enough. We have gained nothing. We must not go down that road again. (The definition of insanity? Doing something over and over again, expecting a different outcome.)
Trump’s ridiculous tweet and Vice President Mike Pence’s sycophantic insistence that the United states is “locked and loaded” — to do whatever Saudi Arabia asks of us to get even with Iran for missile and drone strikes against Saudi oil fields — make no sense.
“Locked and loaded” is a firing-range term meaning a weapon is ready to fire. For a president who pledged to get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s dumbfounding that Trump would consider so blithely putting the U.S. military on the line again in the Middle East.
For oil? Again?
Odd that the first country Trump visited as president was Saudi Arabia, not Mexico or Canada as is traditional. Odd that he repeatedly stresses how much he likes Saudi Arabia for putting millions of dollars in his businesses. Odd that four of Trump’s five vetoes were designed to thwart the will of Congress because Trump wanted to befriend Saudi Arabia.
Odd that when the CIA said Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammad bin Salman ordered the beheading of an American journalist who worked for The Washington Post, there were no repercussions from the Trump administration.
Odd that a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia paid for 500 Trump hotel rooms for the Trump inaugural. Odd that Saudi Arabia rents an entire floor of Trump’s tower in New York City.
Despite what he tweeted Trump has no authority to declare war against Iran, which has been supporting the rebels in Yemen, the poorest of the Arab states. Saudi Arabia has all but obliterated Yemen, supported by American bombs, killing and maiming thousands and turning millions into refugees.
Saudi Arabia is paying Al Qaida to fight its proxy war in Yemen. Al Qaida, we must never forget, killed 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, in the plane hijackings against the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.
Trump has alienated so many allies that there is no way they would support a war against Iran on Saudi Arabia’s behalf. No such thing as a coalition of the willing this time.
Trump threw out the carefully negotiated 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, signed by six nations, which was being enforced. But he had nothing to offer in its place. When asked, three times on internationally televised press conferences and interviews, if he would meet with Iran without preconditions, he said yes. “No preconditions.” When this posture became inconvenient, he said it was “fake news.”
Iran is huge — four times bigger than Iraq. War with Iran would be devastating to America’s military, which already has suffered far too much in the Middle East, where some service members have been deployed four times or more. (And, it must be noted again, Trump is taking billions of money from the military to fund the “wall” on the southern border that Congress voted against.)
The idea that Trump, a draft dodger, is even thinking of threatening war on behalf of Saudi Arabia, using an American military whose members have been fighting continuously for 18 years, is outrageous. Also, it must be noted, he has no authority to go to war in Iran.
The strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields are sickening and hurt the global economy, although not irrevocably.
But it is not worth America going to war on the Saudis’ behalf. Trump may be ignorant but he is not stupid. The American people will not stomach another war in the Middle East. And Trump is determined to win another term in 2020.
At the same time, Trump’s irresponsible rhetoric about being “locked and loaded” and unbelievably short-sighted thinking about Iran in general have undermined this country’s credibility at a nail-bitingly dangerous time.
Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Readers may send her email at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
