Dear Editor,
Are the rumors true? Did Donald Trump ask the leader of China, Xi Jinping, to pull his finger?
National prosperity seems to be the goal of Donald Trump’s tariff riddled trade war, with the president imploring, “America is getting the short end of the stick.” Unfortunately, Trump’s dollar-diplomacy does not apply to his shooting war with Iran, the international community isn’t sharing a splinter or scraggly shag of bark, much less the stick.
If the president could postpone the fattening of his fortune long enough to check out a globe, he would see a big patch of blue (the Atlantic Ocean) between our great nation and Iran. If the Ayatollahs are on the cusp of creating a nuclear weapon, its filthy rich neighbors and Europe are in far greater jeopardy than America, why aren’t they footing the bill?
When Saddam Hussein threatened the world’s fuel spigot in 1990, without fanfare or threats of annihilation, Bush 41 masterfully forged an international coalition, and driving the dictator out of Kuwait hardly involved the US taxpayer (although one hundred and forty seven patriots “carried back bright to the coiner, the mintage of a man”).
JFK’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis is on point. At the onset of the super power standoff, Kennedy respectfully presented U-2 evidence proving that Cuba was a threat.
Why didn’t the author of The Art of the Deal leverage the facts to lessen our nation’s burdens?
There are no facts to support the President’s justification for war. Iran is not an imminent threat. Benjamin Netanyahu. Prime Minister of Israel, offered Trump pie in the sky (regime change and the glory of a brave new middle east) and Donald gobbled.
The casus belli, “Iran is an immanent threat” is as deceitful as “Saddam has WMD” the lie that led to the disastrous war in Iraq, and more and more self-respecting citizens seem to be thinking, “fool me once, blame on you; fool me twice, blame on me.”
Two unnecessary wars within a score of years, did anyone see it coming?
Dwight Eisenhower came close in his 1961 farewell address, warning of a growing “military-industrial complex.”
No, he could not have imagined his Republican Party making a dodger Commander-in-Chief. The old soldier would not have believed the godless prophet predicting that an American leader would stoop to taking the side of an invader (Vladimir Putin).
Applying the lessons of a middle class upbringing and a lifetime of service, Eisenhower balanced the Federal Budget 3 out of his 8 years as President. On many occasions during World War II, but especially on the 5th of June 1944, Ike shook the hands of men soon to meet their maker. “Do no harm” became his foreign policy guide.
It hurts to remember what we used to seek in a leader.
Jesse Laurentius
Perryville
