US will need to own Iran after Trump breaks it

President Trump’s failure to prepare the public for an unprovoked attack against Iran may have surprised Iranian leaders but it has alarmed Americans. Last summer, he boasted that a U.S. air strike had “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear arsenal. So many people wonder why we had to strike again. We’re still waiting to hear his explanation.

This is another fine mess that The Donald has got himself and the nation into. Usually when the United States goes to war, the public rallies behind the commander in chief and the flag. Not in this case. That means there’s no reservoir of good will for him to fall back on if the war drags on and American casualties increase.

The early returns from a national survey conducted Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1 by CNN indicate the president and his war Cabinet are in for tough sledding. Six out of every ten Americans oppose the attack. There are twice as many people who strongly disapprove than there are who strongly approve of the military strike.

The news only gets worse for the poll-challenged president. War should be the last resort for solving disputes but only one in four people believe Trump tried hard enough to find a diplomatic situation to defuse the crisis. Trump left the option of boots on the ground open but only one in ten people favor the use of combat troops in Iran.

Less than half the public believes Trump planned ahead for the consequences of the attack and it’s obvious that he didn’t.

Trump, who pledged “no endless wars,” just stepped into a trap that could drag us into the Middle Eastern quagmire for another generation.

After the U.S. and Israeli attack, Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Israel, Dubai, American military bases in the region and a British air base on Cyprus. Will the desperate Iranians extend the conflict with terrorist attacks on the U.S. heartland and Continental Europe? I doubt that Trump’s warlords barely considered the threats before they acted.

The administration has offered conflicting explanations for the abrupt attack. The worst excuse came from Secretary of State Marco Rubio who said we joined because we “knew there was going to be an Israeli action.” This is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. So much for his boss’s promise to put “America First.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told the public that there won’t be any long-term U.S. military commitment in Iran like there was in Iraq after the second President Bush invaded the nation.

The eminent political philosopher George Santayana once wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Hegseth would have been wise to remember those words and prophetic words of the former George W. Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell. He invoked the Pottery Barn rule before that Iraqi invasion, “You break it, you own it.”

The failure to heed Gen. Powell’s advice led to a long American occupation of the broken nation that led to the deaths of thousands of brave American soldiers and cost the treasury hundreds of billions of dollars. Our great nation isn’t ready for that kind of sobering grief and Trump’s feeble economy isn’t strong enough to take that kind of financial hit. At least six American soldiers have already died and prices at your local gas station have already increased.

Trump claimed the reason for the campaign against Iran was “regime change.” The first wave of air strikes took out the Iranian leadership group including the ayatollah.

What if the new bosses are even worse than the old bosses and they elevate the conflict in the Middle East and intensify terrorism abroad in revenge? Did Trump and his advisors even consider that possibility or did his failure to win a Nobel Peace Prize inspire him to play soldier boy. Inquiring minds want to know.

Trump’s war in the Middle East has put the need for a Democratic congressional majority in stark relief. Six out of ten respondents in the CNN national poll want Trump to secure congressional approval for the assault but the GOP extreme team on Capitol Hill will blindly follow their Dear Leader through the thick fog of war into the dark and deadly abyss of the embattled region.

Before his attack on Iran, Trump had already bombed Venezuela and Syria without congressional authorization, much less a declaration of war required by Article I of the Constitution. To Trump, the Constitution is as permanent as the windblown desert sands of the Middle East.

Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications. He writes weekly for The Hill and hosts the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.

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