If he doesn't want war with Iran, Trump must say so
By Eugene Robinson
The Washington Post
With a competent president in the White House, the escalating confrontation with Iran would not rise to the level of crisis. With President Trump calling the shots, we should be afraid. Very afraid.
A rational president, of course, would not have abandoned the landmark deal that halted Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. A reasonable president would not take provocative steps that seem designed to goad the Iranians into a military clash. A sensible president would study the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and learn the sobering lessons they teach.
Instead, we have Trump.
He campaigned on a promise to end unwinnable wars and bring the troops home, which may be what he truly wants to do. But this instinct is thwarted by the president’s insecure need to act like a swaggering bully on the world stage, pushing around our allies and punishing the adversaries he perceives as weak.
The sharp rise in tension with Iran cannot be entirely blamed on John Bolton, Trump’s hawkish national security adviser, who has long made clear that his goal is nothing less than regime change. Ultimately, it was Trump who decided to pull out of the nuclear deal, against the advice of his then-defense secretary, James Mattis; Trump who ordered scorched-earth sanctions designed not to cripple but to destroy the Iranian economy; Trump who approved designating a unit of Iran’s armed forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a terrorist organization.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/robinson-if-he-doesnt-want-war-with-iran-trump-must-say-so/
