President Donald Trump’s latest tantrums against NATO remind us that toddlers love repetition. Trump has threatened to pull out of the transatlantic alliance so many times — it’s become, well, a joke. He recently called America’s European allies “cowards” for refusing to race to his command and seize the Strait of Hormuz.
All of this is because Trump and Israel decided to bomb Iran for reasons that vary day-to-day. Remember when Trump said last June that the United States had “totally destroyed” Iran’s ability to create nukes (false)? Well, now he says Iranian nukes remained imminent (false), and that America has already achieved victory through “regime change,” even though the war is stretching into its second month, with ground troops headed to the region. The Strait of Hormuz, which carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil, remains mostly closed.
Meanwhile, gas prices keep climbing as market volatility increases.
Secretary of State Colin Powell’s words to President George W. Bush before the U.S. invasion of Iraq haunt us once again: “If you break it, you own it.” Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, the stated rationale for taking the “war on terror” to Iraq. The lack of a plan for the day after “shock and awe” proved a disaster, the effects of which persist. With Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. has broken its fragile stalemate with Iran — and now owns it. What’s next?
Few would disagree that Hussein was a horrible human being who deserved to be toppled, though perhaps not by America then. The same can be said of Iran’s brutal leadership. No tears for mullahs who oppressed, murdered and tortured the Iranian people while supporting terrorism around the world. But how and when might this end?
“Shortly, very shortly,” Trump said in a speech Wednesday night. With or without a deal. Still, the assumption that the Iranian people will simply take over their country once the United States has killed all the bad guys seems as much a pipe dream as when Bush expected the Iraqi people to welcome Americans with flowers, while dancing in the streets. Well, the Iranians did dance, we’ll give Trump that.
To think that Trump was going to be the anti-war president. He bombed Iran not long after inaugurating the Board of Peace, which he helms. At least Bush organized a coalition of the willing, weak though it was, in advance of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. You didn’t see NATO jumping into that mighty fray, either. Only Britain and Poland (and Australia) contributed troops to the invasion force, though other countries aided later.
Trump thought he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could manage the fiasco they’ve created — until now.
Suddenly Trump wants European allies he spent years insulting to join a war he started without a clear plan — or apparently any idea that decapitating Iran’s leadership would instigate a regional crisis and risk millions of lives.
At least three NATO allies have told Trump, in so many words, to take a flying leap. Italy denied landing rights for U.S. aircraft en route to the Middle East, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calling the war “outside the scope of international law.” Spain announced that it was closing its airspace and two military bases to U.S. operations related to the Iran campaign. Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles noted that though this move doesn’t signify a break in transatlantic relations, “two countries went to war and expected us to join them.”
Trump, though he surely knows that NATO’s purpose is to offer defense aid when one of its 32 member countries is attacked, threatened to cut off trade with “terrible” Spain. He also criticized France for refusing to allow the transport of military supplies to Israel through its airspace.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who usually looks stricken with indigestion when Trump speaks, nevertheless parroted the president’s threat to take a hard look at NATO’s value once the fighting stops. Thanks for the chuckles, Marco, but it seems that NATO is the one taking a hard look at America’s value.
At least some good has come from Trump’s foot-stomping petulance. Europe has begun focusing on developing its own military defenses rather than leaning so heavily on U.S. power. This has been the crux of Trump’s criticisms all along. If he prevails in Iran, democracy flourishes, and Hezbollah and Hamas flash a peace sign after a group hug, I’ll stand corrected. But in light of world opinion these days, it seems just as likely that Trump and Netanyahu could find themselves at The Hague for war crimes.
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