The American involvement in the war against Iran remains unclear. On Saturday, President Donald Trump launched an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. On Sunday he spoke about the possible need for regime change there. On Monday he thanked Iran for their subdued military reaction and shortly thereafter announced a ceasefiring -fires between Iran and Israel. What will bring tomorrow? I have no idea.
But I do know that the United States should not get involved in a war with Iran. We don’t need any other unnecessary and expensive war. We had had enough.
In 1964, with little debate, the American congress voted for a Gulf of Tonkin resolution that gave President Johnson the authority to escalate the American military involvement in Vietnam. As a result, the US expanded its presence in that country and were completely towed to Vietnam’s civil war.
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In the end, around 2.7 million Americans were in Vietnam, and more than 58,000 died, with more than 300,000 injured. The war in Vietnam destroyed a whole generation. It also killed millions of Vietnamese and destabilized the region. In Cambodia, that instability gave rise to the Khmer Rouge, who supervised a genocide that killed between 1.5 and 3 million Cambodians. The war cost American taxpayers many hundreds of billions of dollars.
The war in Vietnam was based on a series of lies. Years later, the US government concluded that the assumed attacks that led to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution did not take place as reported. The so-called “Domino theory” -the ideological basis of the war-was-wash fake.
This was a war that should never have been fought.
In 2002, as a member of the congress, I can vividly remember how politicians and the media relentlessly hit the drum about the need to wage war against Iraq and his leader, Saddam Hussein. Time and again we were told that Iraq built mass destruction weapons and that if we did not act quickly, nuclear weapons would quickly fall on America.
Among those who penetrate Iraq in 2002, none other than the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who testified to the congress that: “There is no question that Saddam is looking for … nuclear weapons.” Netanyahu promised: “If you switch off the Saddam regime, I guarantee that the enormous positive reverb will have.” President George W. Bush said in the same way: “Saddam’s regime is looking for a nuclear bomb.” He argued for a preventive attack and said: “We can’t wait for the last proof, the smoking gun, which could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
The United States, against my voice in the congress, invaded Iraq and became involved in a brutal sectarian war that lasted almost ten years. Massa destruction weapons have never been found. The war was based on a lie – a lie that killed us 4,500 young Americans, 32,000 injured and $ 3 trillion of wasted taxpayers. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis also died and the entire region was destabilized for a generation.
War often has terrible and unintended consequences. It should only be considered a final resort.
We should not be at war with Iran.
First let me say it obvious: Trump’s attack on Iran is unconstitutional. The Congress alone has the authority to bring this country to war, not the president. Trump does not have that authority at the moment.
Secondly, nobody seriously believes that Iran is a military threat to the United States. Only a few months ago Trump’s own director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, witnessed the congress that the American intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran does not build a nuclear weapon and that Supreme Leader Khamenei has authorized that he suspended in 2003.” There was no imminent threat that justified a preventive attack.
Thirdly, Benjamin Netanyahu should not dictate that American foreign and military policy. Trump’s attack on Iran would not have taken if Israel had not launched illegal, not led surprise attack on Iran on 13 June, causing the American diplomatic efforts to tackle Iran’s nuclear program. Israel even killed the Iranian official who supervised those conversations. If the people of Israel Netanyahu’s decision supports to start a war with Iran, it is their affairs and their war. The United States should not be part of it.
Fourth, currently in history, the United States may not be connected to the Netanyahu government for military efforts. Netanyahu is a war criminal sued by the International Criminal Court for starving and killing citizens in Gaza. His government systematically destroys the Palestinian people. Israel has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians and almost 130,000 injured who are two-thirds women and children.
The entire physical infrastructure of Gaza – housing, hospitals, schools and water systems – has been almost completely destroyed. To this day, Israel continues to prevent the UN and other auxiliary prosperity from offering desperate humanitarian aid to starving citizens, contrary to us and international law.
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Fifth, this war is more than Israel and Iran. It is about the concept of international law and the prevention of a world where every dispute is arranged by violence. Whatever you think of the brutal and authoritarian Iranian regime, the surprise attack of Netanyahu was a clear violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
One nation does not have the right to attack another country when it wants for whatever reason. The world condemned Russia in the right way for his not led attack on Ukraine. The world condemned Hamas in the right way for their non -provoked terrorist attack on Israel. Israel must be convicted of his non -laid out attack on Iran – and the United States should not be part of that illegal action.
Finally, wars are extremely expensive. At a time when the working class of this country is confronted with major crises in housing, health care, childcare, education, climate and other areas, we have to invest our resources in improving life for the American people, not waste money on illegal and unnecessary wars.
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Last year alone, the United States offered $ 22 billion in military aid to Israel. Enough is enough.
It is more than absurd that we continue to finance the wars of Israel while neglecting the needs of our own people.
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