To the Editor:
Martin: Thanks to you I did, indeed, examine my conscience as if preparing for the Sacrament of Penance. You know that mortal (spiritually deadly) sins must be confessed, but confession of venial sins is devotional, or optional, but I overlooked none of them, especially in politics. While I found tons of potentially venial sins emanating from my politics (e.g., sharing bad thoughts about “Voldemort Miller,” “Roadkill Kennedy,” “Cockeyed Kash, ”or “Whiskey Pete”), I found none that are not true according to my research, or lack morality as formed by my early Catholicism, or are soul-destroying. Just regular, obvious political stuff that I share with you most weeks.
I will ignore your animated, diversionary attempt to change the subject in last week’s Editorial, by exhuming unrelated, incendiary controversies, like Choice and non-existent Democratic endorsements. There are several international topics that require attention from the American populace:
The JPOAC agreement between six nations and Iran, negotiated under the Obama administration in 2015, produced the “successful outcome” you described, as it expressly included Iran’s renunciation of nuclear weapons, and required regular inspections to verify the lack of weapons-grade uranium. The Strait of Hormuz blockade only became an issue when Trump’s War raised it. But, in his love/hate of Obama, Trump I and II gave that accomplishment the old “86” for “something far better.”
The 1973 War Powers Act (“WPA”) requires that troops, fighting a war conducted without Congressional approval, be withdrawn within 60 days of hostilities (2.28.26), with a 30-day extension to complete the process. Trump and Hegseth argue that the airstrike ceasefire in Iran (4.8.26) tolled the WPA hostilities clock, even as Trump’s threats of destruction persist, warships, warplanes, and troops stand ready in harm’s way, and both parties continue to blockade (an international war crime) Hormuz or Iranian ports. Trump said Sunday that, “Iran ha[s]d not suffered a sufficient price for its actions.”
Trump has said that he does not plan to submit a war declaration to Congress, although the US was the aggressor, not the victim. By now, it should be clear that he believes all power resides in him, despite his oath to the Constitution, and he will not risk possible Republican Congressional resistance, should any be hinted. The other day, from the Oval, he repeated his frequent musing that, “maybe we need a dictator.”
At the beginning of this week, despite his claim of tolled hostilities in Iran, Trump placed yet another dangerous Iranian “bet” and announced “Project Freedom,” a naval operation to provide security for vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz. He is betting that Iran will not fire on an American-escorted ship. Security Expert Robert Pape wrote that, “the US has now assumed responsibility for keeping the Strait open,” potentially in perpetuity. If an escorted ship is attacked, “the burden will shift entirely onto Washington.” Back down, and the world will likely “view it as a humiliation,” and “loss of global status.” Retaliation is likely to escalate and widen the war, in conditions even more treacherous. It is deliberately disingenuous to claim that “hostilities” have been “tolled” for purposes of the WPA.
I hope, for future peace, that there is an as-yet unseen path to a successful outcome, and that Trump’s chosen means are not more war crimes. What Trump is sowing, we will reap. We still have a Constitutional remedy for a different direction.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca.