Trump’s defenders already 'in trouble' over the Iran invasion

U.S. President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., attend a cabinet meeting at the White House (Reuters)

Prominent conservative, William Kristol — who was one of the most vocal, influential proponents advocating for the overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the 2003 Iraq War to remove him — says advocates for President Donal Trump’s war in Iran are already on shaky ground.

“Why did we go to war four days ago? And why are we going to continue this war, apparently for weeks or longer? The Trump administration can’t answer either question,” said Kristol.

Kristol points out that on Monday CNN reporter Kasie Hunt “posed a sensible question” to Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who serves on the Armed Services Committee and who has been acting as an administration surrogate over the last few days: “Did the president not run on not starting a war with Iran?”

But Kristol said Sen. Mullin deflected: “This isn’t a war.”

“You know the administration’s defenders are in trouble when they resort to this kind of denial of reality,” said Kristol — and this is the conservative who bought former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s claim that Iraq was on the cusp of loading up with enough fissile material for nuclear bomb development.

Now perhaps a more discerning observer, Kristol points out that “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had undermined this talking point a few hours earlier, acknowledging that we are in fact at war.”

“We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it,” Hegseth said.

“So yes, we are at war,” said Kristol. “To deny this is disrespectful both to the American public, who have eyes to see what is happening, and to our servicemen and servicewomen, whom the administration has ordered into harm’s way. Will Sen. Mullin explain to the families of the service members who have died that their loved ones were not fighting in a war?”

This does not mean President Donald Trump has anything close to a reason behind his war, however.

“The administration hasn’t offered a coherent explanation. Over the weekend, President Trump suggested several purposes and backed away from some, leaving confusion in his wake,” said Kristol. “His aides tried to clean things up yesterday, having Trump read military ‘objectives’ from a teleprompter at the White House. But none of the objectives — destroying Iran’s missile capabilities and its navy, ensuring Iran can’t obtain a nuclear weapon or support terrorism — explain why we had to go to war now. Nor do they explain why we are engaged in such an open-ended and massive military campaign.”

Kristol points out that Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, “tried to help out his boss” on Monday by arguing that the Iranian threat to the U.S. really was imminent, and that it required a preemptive attack. However, last June, Israel was at all-out war with Iran for almost two weeks before the Trump fire upon Iran himself. And during that span Iran launched major attacks against Israel, but hardly any attacks on U.S. assets in the region.

“Instead the administration chose a pre-emptive and unauthorized war for which it has offered no coherent rationale. And it now has no sound argument for why this war must be extended,” said Kristol, adding that six U.S. service people have already lost their lives in Trump’s personal war.

“The answer is simple: Congress should not give this administration a blank and open-ended check to continue to wage a massive, risky, and unconstitutional war.”

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