How's the War Working Out for You?

After Trump threatened to destroy Iranian civilization, as his stated deadline approached, he quickly acceded to a ceasefire proposed by Pakistan that apparently reflected Iran’s 10-point proposal. (Read the play-by-play reported by The New York Times.) Despite stepping back from the cliff, his bellicose rhetoric threatening Armageddon was unworthy of a U.S. president.

My latest to Congress:

How's the war working out for you? Your continued support of the president makes you complicit and responsible.

The president’s statements about bombing Iran back to the Stone Age and ending their civilization shows a delusional and draconian man who is unfit to serve as president and should be removed from office. That he stepped back from ordering the military to carry out his threats is little comfort and does not reverse his heinous behavior.

Five weeks in, the president's objectives for attacking Iran have not been achieved.

• Iran still has nuclear material.
• An even stricter theocratic regime rules the country.
• The Strait of Hormuz is under Iranian control.

Innocent people are dead. The war has inflicted extreme damage to critical infrastructure across the region, which will take billions of dollars and months, if not years, to restore.

The dismal irony is a president yearning for the Nobel Peace Prize threatened war crimes, abdicating any claim to peace.

Donald Trump’s behavior does not reflect American values. He's disgraced the nation and undermined America’s global leadership. Congress should impeach him to end this tragic chapter in American history.

The War Goes On With No Obvious End

As the war goes on, another letter to Congress:

Within a few days of the U.S. and Israel attacking Iran, gasoline jumped to $3.00 a gallon here in Opelika. Now, in the fourth week of this war, gasoline is $3.50, $1 more per gallon than the price before the preemptive and destabilizing attack. Other than raising prices, what has the administration’s war accomplished?

The Strait of Hormuz is blocked; the only oil and cargo transiting are ships allowed by Iran.

The president’s goal of a new regime in Iran? The new leader is the son of the former leader and cut from the same theocratic cloth.

The enriched uranium, which the president called an imminent threat, is still there.

While we have extensively damaged Iran’s military capabilities, the destruction seems to have strengthened the regime’s resolve.

Whatever trust we built through negotiation is gone. The president’s bellicose rhetoric intended to scare Iran into submission is not working.

The Pentagon now asks for $200 billion to fund the war. $200 billion could have reduced the nation’s debt, been invested in critical infrastructure, or restored the health insurance subsidies Congress refused to extend.

Astonishingly, the president is now talking about taking over Cuba.

Those of us who lived through the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 recall the aphorism “if you break it, you own it.” Donald Trump owns this war and its vast economic and humanitarian consequences.

I urge you and your Republican colleagues to exercise Constitutional oversight to end the war and limit President Trump’s imperial ambitions. Don’t be complicit by your support or by hiding in silence.

Little Hope for Peace