Explains why it’s not a war for some people in the US government
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From Globe.com
By Yvonne Abraham
“Why should I risk my life for this?”
Congressman Seth Moulton says that question — from a Marine under his command during the war in Iraq — is the toughest he’s ever gotten in his life.
Moulton came to oppose America’s involvement in Iraq, which he believes was built on the lie that leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was an imminent threat.
But that flimsy pretext pales in comparison to the disaster he has seen unfolding since Saturday, when the Trump Administration joined with Israel to attack Iran, bypassing Congress to start an illegal and widening war in the Middle East.
Nobody who is waging this war seems to be able to explain why they’re doing it. There appears to be no clear objective, beyond perhaps maximizing death and destruction, and no plan for whatever comes after, if there is an after. No preparation for evacuating stranded Americans or for supplying munitions for a protracted conflict.
Most of President Trump’s lackeys refuse to call it a war at all, despite the fact that the commander in chief keeps saying it is exactly that. Because admitting it is a war would mean this whole thing is unconstitutional. It would mean Trump was lying when he promised on the campaign trail to be the candidate of peace. Iran started it, they have tried to argue, we are just defending ourselves.
“We went proactively in a defensive way,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, using doublespeak too silly to be called Orwellian. Remember when words meant things?
It’s hard to seem reasonable and measured when the secretary of defense — er, war — talks like a 13-year-old on hour five of a “Call of Duty” bender. Pete Hegseth has boasted of “Death and destruction from the sky all day. We’re playing for keeps. … Our rules of engagement are … designed to unleash American power, not shackle it ... we are punching them while they are down."
When it comes to that question of why American troops are risking their lives — Moulton says it’s even more difficult to answer now than it was in Iraq.
“There’s six or seven different explanations for why we’re even here,” he said, ticking off some of them. We’re going after their nuclear weapons program, but Trump claimed it was “obliterated” last year. They’re trying to bring regime change, but it’s likely the next regime will be even worse than the previous one. (Besides, as the president said, the initial attack was so “successful” that it killed those who might have been more reasonable successors.)
Trump has said Iran’s supreme leader was personally targeting him, so “I got him before he got me.” Six members of the US military died so he could feel safer. And what did Trump offer in the way of comfort for their deaths? “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” he said. “That’s the way it is.”
“What that shows is that Trump thinks his life, or what’s left of it, is way more important than the lives of six Americans,” Moulton said.
People are dying in Iran, and Hegseth is talking like a teen on a ‘Call of Duty’ bender - The Boston Globe
There appears to be no clear objective from the Trump administration in Iran, beyond perhaps maximizing death and destruction.
www.bostonglobe.com
From Globe.com
By Yvonne Abraham
“Why should I risk my life for this?”
Congressman Seth Moulton says that question — from a Marine under his command during the war in Iraq — is the toughest he’s ever gotten in his life.
Moulton came to oppose America’s involvement in Iraq, which he believes was built on the lie that leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was an imminent threat.
But that flimsy pretext pales in comparison to the disaster he has seen unfolding since Saturday, when the Trump Administration joined with Israel to attack Iran, bypassing Congress to start an illegal and widening war in the Middle East.
Nobody who is waging this war seems to be able to explain why they’re doing it. There appears to be no clear objective, beyond perhaps maximizing death and destruction, and no plan for whatever comes after, if there is an after. No preparation for evacuating stranded Americans or for supplying munitions for a protracted conflict.
Most of President Trump’s lackeys refuse to call it a war at all, despite the fact that the commander in chief keeps saying it is exactly that. Because admitting it is a war would mean this whole thing is unconstitutional. It would mean Trump was lying when he promised on the campaign trail to be the candidate of peace. Iran started it, they have tried to argue, we are just defending ourselves.
“We went proactively in a defensive way,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, using doublespeak too silly to be called Orwellian. Remember when words meant things?
It’s hard to seem reasonable and measured when the secretary of defense — er, war — talks like a 13-year-old on hour five of a “Call of Duty” bender. Pete Hegseth has boasted of “Death and destruction from the sky all day. We’re playing for keeps. … Our rules of engagement are … designed to unleash American power, not shackle it ... we are punching them while they are down."
When it comes to that question of why American troops are risking their lives — Moulton says it’s even more difficult to answer now than it was in Iraq.
“There’s six or seven different explanations for why we’re even here,” he said, ticking off some of them. We’re going after their nuclear weapons program, but Trump claimed it was “obliterated” last year. They’re trying to bring regime change, but it’s likely the next regime will be even worse than the previous one. (Besides, as the president said, the initial attack was so “successful” that it killed those who might have been more reasonable successors.)
Trump has said Iran’s supreme leader was personally targeting him, so “I got him before he got me.” Six members of the US military died so he could feel safer. And what did Trump offer in the way of comfort for their deaths? “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” he said. “That’s the way it is.”
“What that shows is that Trump thinks his life, or what’s left of it, is way more important than the lives of six Americans,” Moulton said.
