Trump Had Both the Legal Justification and Moral Obligation to Move Against Iran

As I observe the national and world response to the American and Israeli bombing of Iran, I am amazed at both the remarkable pessimism of the media and commentators, as well as the willful ignorance of many regarding the actual history of the murderous Iranian regime. 

Conversely, President Trump has stated “Iran can have a much brighter future—but we’ll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or a nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make.”

Let’s review some of the “high” points.  For 47 years, the Iranian government has been the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.  While chanting “death to America” the regime has done nothing but actively and purposefully harm, maim and kill Americans, and many others all over the world, during its terror-filled reign.  This it has done either directly or through its poisonous proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.  

Let’s also recall the 66 Americans taken hostage at the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979; The killing of 241 American military personnel at the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.  Further, at Iran’s direction, Hamas and Hezbollah (one of their specialties is the IED roadside bomb) killed and maimed hundreds of American military members in Iraq.

Trump has labored mightily to achieve the same result diplomatically, with exhaustive rounds of good faith talks and negotiations.  He even indicated he would lift the heavy sanctions he placed on Iran as well as providing, free of charge, nuclear energy to the country for civilian uses.  To no avail.  Trump finally realized that they were stalling him as the regime attempted to reconstitute its nuclear program from the destruction imposed by operation Midnight Hammer last June that obliterated Iran’s three nuclear facilities.

In fairness, both Republican and Democrat presidents have failed to directly address this threat.  Usually, a policy of appeasement and some form of containment is undertaken (as if a nuclear bomb can be contained) but never with success.  President Barack Obama infamously sent $1.5 billion dollars of cash on pallets to the Iranian regime at the same time he was signing a very weak nuclear agreement with that government that would ultimately allow Iran to continue developing a nuclear weapon.   

Appeasement.  Winston Churchill once described the futility of negotiating with an aggressor as an appeaser “who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”  Appeasement never works, particularly not with a regime that is founded on the diabolical ideology the Iranian government is.

So, Trump acted.  

He laid out four clear military objectives for Operation Epic Fury.  1). Completely destroy the regime’s deadly ballistic missiles. 2) Completely eliminate the Iranian navy. 3).  Completely destabilize Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. 4). Prohibit Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.  These objectives have largely been accomplished in about 4 days’ time.

Every Iranian ship that can be found has been destroyed. The U.S. has complete control of Iranian airspace and has decimated every known ballistic missile, launcher, and drone.   And the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah, are difficult to find because they have gone so far underground.   In addition, the Supreme Leader of Iran and the very top leadership, and the next level of leadership below them, have all been eliminated.

So, where does this leave us?

While our goal should not be “regime change,” our plan should be to so thoroughly erase every vestige of the current terrorist regime that the political vacuum may be filled by moderate Iranians who seek peace with Israel and a positive relationship with the U.S.  Such an outcome will have a profoundly positive impact on the Middle East and the world.

And only one nation can bring it about.

America is both an exceptional nation and the only truly indispensable nation.  Whatever mistakes or shortcomings we may make or have, the world would be a much darker place without America in it. Back to the time of President Reagan and his simple but powerful message “peace through strength,” to Trump today, what an American president says and, more importantly, does has a dramatic impact on the world.  That is why, when a redline is laid down by a president, the trespass of it must result in decisive and lethal action.  We have such a leader now and the world is calmer and more orderly as a result of it. Trump didn’t start this war with Iran but is in the process of finishing it.