To the Editor:
Re “Trump’s Attack on Iran Is Reckless”(editorial, March 2):
The editorial board rightly catalogs the brutality of the Iranian regime — its massacre of thousands of protesters, repression of women and minorities, sponsorship of terrorism and decades of “Death to America” rhetoric backed by bloodshed. It acknowledges that Iran combines this ideology with nuclear ambition, has defied inspectors and has shown signs of restarting weapons development and that preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon could justify military action.
Those are not incidental points. They are the core strategic facts.
The lesson of North Korea is not theoretical. The world delayed, debated and hoped — and woke up to a nuclear-armed dictatorship. Every American president, of both parties, has pledged that Iran would not be allowed to cross that threshold. A credible commitment requires credible enforcement. Deterrence that never acts is not deterrence at all.
Congressional consultation is important. Clear articulation of goals is important. But so is timing. Waiting for the perfect alignment of domestic politics and international consensus while a hostile regime races toward nuclear capability is not prudence; it is paralysis.
No one welcomes war. But preventing a regime that funds global terrorism and openly calls for America’s destruction from obtaining the world’s most dangerous weapons is not reckless adventurism. It is a sober exercise of presidential responsibility.
History will judge whether this moment reflected impulsiveness — or resolve. The greater risk may not be acting too soon, but acting too late.
(Rabbi) Reuven H. Taff Sacramento
To the Editor:
Whether or not the editorial board thinks that Iran, a nation of more than 90 million people, deserved the U.S. military attack is irrelevant. What’s relevant is the recklessness with which President Trump has acted. He has committed our nation — American soldiers, airmen and sailors, and of course our treasury — to war.
The president has done this without the involvement of Congress, where the constitutional power to declare war is enshrined; without a requisite clear and imminent threat to our national security; without any attempt to create domestic public understanding or seek support from our allies; and without a clear strategy or end game.
We can only hope, it seems, that something good will rise from the devastation that we wreak.
David Pederson Tucson, Ariz.
To the Editor:
As the United States embarks on another reckless war in the Middle East, we need to evaluate the true cost of these misadventures. At risk is not just the body count of Americans and citizens around the world, but the souls of all who loved them.
Nearly 25 years after Sept. 11, 2001, the day my husband went to work in the World Trade Center and never came home, I want Americans to understand how violence scars for life.
As I read reports of civilian deaths, I feel today as I did on Sept. 12, 2001 — heartbroken for humanity. Every time an innocent victim dies, pain radiates outward for decades. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq devastated lives around the world, including mine. I still mourn the deaths committed in my husband’s name.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, our war machine has produced an uncountable death toll and an enormous debt. Think of the world we could be living in if we had chosen a different path 25 years ago.
Anne Blauvelt Hopewell, N.J.
To the Editor:
I agree that President Trump’s attack on Iran is reckless. I also agree that he should have a detailed conversation with the American people. The Constitution grants the authority to declare war to Congress. But a steady erosion of that requirement has occurred over the course of decades, starting with President Harry Truman’s labeling the U.S. action taken in Korea in 1950 as a “police action.”
The proposals of Representatives Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, and Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, are a well-meaning rehash of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which has not thus far deterred any president from defying the Constitution.
President Trump is the personification of what the founders tried to prevent when they wrote Article 1 of the Constitution. Looking at it optimistically, perhaps our president’s behavior will finally motivate the people and Congress to act as the founders intended.
John A. Viteritti Laurel, N.Y.
To the Editor:
The editorial board rightly labels the military operation against Iran as reckless. Indeed, the lack of strategic planning brings to mind a remark Gen. David Petraeus made to a reporter in 2003 shortly after the invasion of Iraq began: “Tell me how this ends.”
The Trump administration has failed to articulate a vision for what the desired end state is in Iran besides “freedom.” Military intervention devoid of long-term vision and planning is negligence, as the Bush administration demonstrated two decades ago. As a veteran, I respectfully implore President Trump to tell me and my fellow Americans how this ends.
T. Michael Spencer Washington
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