To the Editor:
Watching the news this past weekend I couldn’t stop thinking about the little girls. The little girls in Iran. The little girls in the Epstein saga. Different countries, different circumstances, one common bond — powerful men who believe girls don’t matter.
Six Americans dead. “Pre-emptively defensive,” they say. And Trump wants to talk about the White House’s gold drapes.
How many more will it take?
Pat Collins,
Fillmore, Ca
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To the Editor:
It is not possible in this space to address all that should be said about the international events of last week. All that I can do is ask questions, and not even all of them. Please excuse the length.
Why did Trump plan and conduct, in consultations with Israel and Saudi Arabia but without constitutionally required Congressional “advise and consent,” a massive, unprovoked, military attack on tinderbox Iran?
No one is sorry that Totalitarian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is no longer in power in Iran. No one would be sorry if Kim Jong Un were no longer in power in North Korea. Both have long-hated America. I will not bother to quote the wildly contradictory statements of our government on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. This is a War of Aggression and Choice, and it is Trump’s War.
Contrary to Trump’s campaign promises that there would be no “regime change wars,” we are there. We are compelled to ask, “why?”
Trump’s actions violate the US Constitution which requires Congress to declare War. Internationally, no imminent, realistic threat to America’s security existed. We appear to have begun a War on behalf of Israel’s Netanyahu and the Arab States who are reliably reported to have lobbied Trump to attack for their own purposes.
This is likely both an act of hubris on Trump’s part, and a debt or favor owed to Israel and the Arab States. Why risk yet another dangerous political power vacuum in the Mideast, as we have done so infamously and detrimentally before? Trump’s claim that his heart bled for Iranian oppression was morbidly preposterous. Trump has offered no substantial support for regime-change. I hear the desperate siren of failure to learn past lessons, and unintended consequences
Trump did not consult, either, with other free-world powers before the destabilizing attack and went “commando.” After years-long threats to weaken free-world alliances, teasing abandoning European partners, “Tilt-A-Whirl tariffs,” openly embracing dictators, stealing Venezuelan oil, and threatening to invade Greenland, the respect for, and value of, diplomacy with America has significantly depreciated - in 14 months. Foreign leaders reasonably question Trump’s motives and failure to recognize likely regional instability. Still, his outraged Republican minions castigate the EU for their lack of automatic, unambiguous support for Trump’s War.
Who benefits from this War? Israel’s Netanyahu, of course, who has begged for such action for years. Saudi Arabia and Qatar consider Iran to be their greatest enemy, and they, too, urged the US to attack Iran again.
It is well-known that Trump, the Trump Organization and Family, have extensive financial ties to many Mideast countries, and have acquired billions of dollars during the Trump presidencies: the Board of Peace grift in Gaza; Qatar’s airport facility in the Midwest, and gift of a fantastic “free” airplane; Saudi Arabia’s Trump crypto-currency ventures, real estate, AI chip deals, and the 2020 $2 billion handout to Jared Kushner (who was also the conflict-driven latest US “negotiator” with Iran).
This War was not an emergency American national security action or even a democratic challenge to a Totalitarian government. It isn’t just a monumental distraction (albeit temporarily successful) from the Epstein Files. It’s about Trump’s sole lifetime interest: his personal business interests. And at the moment, they are in the Mideast.
Trump doesn’t have the attention span to conduct a long, costly, and harrowing War. He just needs a couple of weeks to divert attention from the Epstein Files and show off “his” military might to the world, accommodate a few friends in the Mideast, and bail out, “having done everything he could for peace.” Then he can move on to wooing American’s partially indifferent electorate to institute more voter suppression and control of the US mid-term election as a “war president,” and focus on building a ballroom.
He’s playing Russian Roulette with world peace, our republic, and our lives and futures, for personal power and profit.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca.