As America woke up to hearing that we’re in yet another war, I am reminded of a presentation I gave, where in the Q&A, a Turkish scholar replied, “But I have questions…”
A lot of people have asked me what’s happening, and what’s going to happen. Here are some of the questions we should be asking ourselves, along with a few preliminary answers.
5) What’s Our Plan To Win?
Are we going to bomb and fire missiles at sites until…until what? We may not have known every detail, but at least in the Persian Gulf War, we knew the mission was to expel Iraq from Kuwait. In Kosovo, it was to stop Serbs from massacring ethnic Albanians. People criticize Obama for drone attacks and missiles, but those were largely against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Al-Qaeda affiliates, group which actually attacked us on 9/11.
Is this about regime change? Is it about bringing freedom to the Persians? Or is this about leadership decapitation and hopes that the “second-in-command” will kneel under Trump’s authority, fearful of being attacked by U.S. missiles?
4) Who Are We Relying Upon For Allies In This Conflict?
Are we hoping that the young Iranian college students and liberal-minded kids are going to be enough to dislodge the Iranian regime? God bless them. I wish it was true, but I’m not sure they have the tools to do it, even with missiles raining down everywhere (those who hate their regime are probably hiding from those as well). As for relying on Arabs from Sistan-Baluchistan, well, that reminds me of those who thought Chaldean Christians would overwhelm Saddam Hussein in Iraq. NATO wasn’t attacked. Is there more than just Israeli on our side. Will Russia help their Iranian friends?
3) Will We Follow The War Powers Act?
Our Congress is not some “advisory board,” to occasionally receive a briefing and nod. They are the chief lawmaking body, our representatives and senators. Our Founding Fathers resisted one-person government because we knew how ineffective monarchies, as well as unchecked Prime Ministers, were. Though maybe a third of America may think otherwise, we are not, nor should we be, a one-person government.
2) What’s Our Plan For A Post-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Iran?
As I wrote earlier this year, I’ve seen plenty of Twitter sites touting the return of the Shah in the form of some relative of his, showing young people in Western wear walking around. But the Shah was a cruel tyrant. He and his SAVAK secret police ruled the country in such a way that it triggered this Iranian Revolution and hatred of the U.S. Are we going to push for freedom, or turn our back on the democracy-minded young people, as we seem poised to do in Venezuela, in the hopes of replacing a terrible dictator with a minion of his who might do what we tell him or her to do?
1) Long-Term, What’s Our Foreign Policy & Domestic Goal?
We’ve seen how our country is treating not just Venezuela and Iran, but also Denmark, Ukraine, Russia (the country that Iran was helping with weapons to kill Ukrainians), as well as Canada, Mexico and the rest of our NATO and Rio Pact allies. And people are scared by talk of canceling mid-term elections.
I know anyone with questions, not just outright opposition, could be labeled as one with “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” disagreeing with a policy just because the President supports it.
But almost everyone I know in our Georgia town, and at our college, just wants to know what’s the plan for all of this. And I think these are fair questions that we need to know the answers to.