Courtesy of the Bastrop Advertiser
Jan. 23, 2020
By Joni Ashbrook
Some of the same Republicans who deceived us about the Iraq War are now inching us closer to war in Iran, and they’re trotting out their old playbook to stifle dissent.
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President George W. Bush’s administration issued 935 false statements about Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Bush and his top officials stated at least 532 times that Iraq had or was trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction, and had links to al Qaeda. Those false statements were a crucial rationale for going to war.
In 2004, then Congressman Mike Pence, claimed that “Weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.” That wasn’t true.
The Iraq Survey Group reported that “while a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered,” Iraq had destroyed its weapons stockpile in 1991. They also found “no credible indications” that Iraq had restarted its weapons program.
Now, Vice President Pence claims that the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, whom President Donald Trump had killed, assisted the terrorists who attacked us on 911.
However, the 911 Commission Report found no evidence that Iran had anything to do with those attacks, and it doesn’t mention Soleimani at all.
Beginning in 2002, there were worldwide protests against America invading Iraq. Unfortunately, Republicans and right-wing media painted dissenters as “anti-American” and claimed we were “emboldening the enemy” and “not supporting our troops.”
Today, people are asking what was the “imminent threat” that was eliminated by killing Soleimani, and was his death worth the increased risk to our troops or possibly starting another war?
Now Trump and GOP leaders are trotting out that old “anti-American” argument again, but this time they’ve upped their game. They’re actually claiming Democrats are defending Soleimani and mourning his death.
Although he later apologized, Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., said Democrats were “in love with terrorists” and that we “mourn Soleimani more than Gold Star families.” Democrats never defended or mourned that brutal man.
The GOP uses these absurd, repugnant arguments because they have no clear justification for Trump’s actions.
Trump claimed Soleimani was planning attacks on “four U.S. embassies,” but his own Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he “didn’t see” intelligence about such strikes.
After the administration briefed Congress about the rationale for killing Soleimani, a rare thing happened. A GOP senator, Mike Lee from Utah, spoke truthfully and defended the Constitution instead of Trump.
Lee agreed with Democrats and said he was “unsatisfied” and he expected more “legal, factual, and moral justification for the attack.”
But Lee was especially upset that administration officials told lawmakers, “Do not debate. Do not discuss the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran, and that if you do you’ll be emboldening Iran.”
Lee said because of that briefing, he decided to support Sen. Tim Kaine’s, D-Va., War Powers Resolution that would require Trump to seek congressional approval before widening the conflict with Iran. Hopefully other GOP lawmakers will join him.
The world breathed a sigh of relief when tensions with Iran subsided, but the threat of war isn’t over.
Trump obviously thinks starting a war with Iran would boost his reelection chances, since he repeatedly predicted that President Barack Obama would do exactly that.
We should demand Congress reassert the power the Constitution gave them, not the president, to declare war. Also, an open, exhaustive, fact-based debate should be encouraged not shut down. That’s how we can “support our troops.”
