I know it’s bad form to say anything positive about President Donald Trump. But his decision to call off a planned air strike against Iran last month should be applauded.
While I don’t endorse chaotic thinking about foreign policy, it is worth recalling what normal-thinking foreign policy looks like. Past wars in the Mideast were professionally sold to the American people with massive propaganda campaigns run through the press. Normal presidents first dehumanize the enemy, then ignore civilian casualties.
Today, Democrats are raising questions about Trump’s authority to bomb Iran without getting authorization from Congress. In response, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that Trump can use the 2001 AUMF—the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed after 9/11—as justification for a new war with Iran.
As an example, why are we helping Saudi Arabia and its murderous Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman fight its cruel and brutal war in Yemen, targeting civilians, bombing hospitals, factories, mosques, schools, using starvation and disease as weapons of war? Trump will tell you why. We do it for the weapons contracts with the Saudis. But Obama, the president who got us into the war in Yemen, while he also negotiated huge weapons contracts with the Saudis, never offered any coherent explanation.
