Speaking to reporters at the White House in late March, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States would be wrapping up its air strikes against Iran "within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three." But critics of Trump's Iran operation fear that if he sends ground troops into Iran, the war will expand — not wind down.
Two of Trump's critics are ex-Rep. Leon Panetta (D-California) and conservative former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), both of whom served as defense secretary in the Obama Administration. Panetta also served as CIA director under former President Barack Obama.
In a biting op-ed published by the New York Times on April 1, Hagel and Panetta argue that Trump is flying blind with Iran and warn that his chaotic approach is putting U.S. troops in "harm's way."
"As former secretaries of defense and former members of Congress," Republican Hagel and Democratic Panetta explain, "we can personally attest to the problems that arise when our country engages in conflicts that drift without clear objectives and end points. They often become tragic, unwinnable wars that history does not remember kindly. So when our president oscillates between stating that 'the war is very complete, pretty much' and 'we're not ready to leave yet' within the space of roughly a week, it seems that we are repeating that history. It shows both our allies and our adversaries that impulsive and unilateral decisions are driving our foreign policy objectives."
The former Pentagon officials continue, "It also shows how the president's decision to bypass Congress and the American people and defy democratic norms has profound consequences on our military, U.S. citizens and people around the world. The president's war in Iran has created vast amounts of volatility and uncertainty — thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced — and has further undermined the credibility of the United States to maintain the rules-based international order that we helped establish after World War II."
By alienating longtime allies of the United States, Hagel and Panetta warn, Trump is making things worse — not better — for troops.
"America needs allies, trading partners and friends," the former defense secretaries write. "But now, instead of working together with them to maintain a global system that has brought real geopolitical and economic benefit to us all, we are isolating ourselves…. We must change course if we want to avoid global isolation and preserve the era of prosperity and security that the world has witnessed in the last 80 years…. This era was built on a bipartisan consensus on the strategic importance of both NATO and global trade. It is clear this president has no respect for that precedent. "
Hagel and Panetta add, "But America is a constitutional republic — not a monarchy — and Congress and the president have coequal constitutional responsibilities in all matters of government, including in matters of security and war…. The fast rate at which this conflict has escalated and destabilized the world is the direct result of a president acting alone without a strategy and of a politically divided Congress that has abdicated its responsibilities and failed to play its vital constitutional role of oversight in war."
