I have been re-reading Senator Bob Graham’s book, Intelligence Matters. It was about the intelligence failures of 9/11. Re-reading this book reminded me of how unprepared we were for a terrorist attack here in the United States, as well as how we diverted our attention away from the war on terror to attack Iraq.
For those of you who have a little gray hair, you’ll remember that the Bush Administration told us that Iraq had biological and chemical weapons. We were told they had these mobile devices that could be deployed almost anywhere and release devastating biological or chemical weapons. We were also told that Iraq was building a nuclear weapon and that they were months away from having a workable nuclear bomb. Finally, we were told that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with Al Qaeda.
Although CIA Director George Tenet said in the Oval Office that this information was a “slam dunk,” it turns out he was 100% wrong. After we invaded Iraq, the public found out that they had no significant amounts of biological or chemical weapons. We learned that their nuclear program had been defunct for years. Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush Administration had cherry-picked and distorted the intelligence to paint an ominous picture of Iraq, which was not true.
The biggest problem we had in the United States after we invaded Iraq was that there was no reckoning. Nobody was held accountable for lying to the American people. The lies that the Bush Administration told us cost the American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. That war also cost us the lives of thousands of service members. Yet, for some reason, there was no accountability.
Iran
To quote Yogi Berra, “This is déjà vu all over again.” Instead of the Bush Administration, we now have the Trump Administration. We have Donald Trump and others in his administration who are telling us that Iran posed a threat to the United States.
So what was the threat? Was it nuclear weapons? I don’t think the Trump administration has made a convincing case that Iran had reconstituted its nuclear program in any meaningful way. Was it long-range missiles? The administration has not presented any evidence that Iran possesses intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.
But the Trump administration is not going to make the mistake that the Bush administration did. Bush’s cabinet presented data to the American public, even though it was skewed, distorted, and in some cases simply false. This time, this administration isn’t bothering to present any data whatsoever: instead, they’re just asking us to trust them, which is absolutely ludicrous.
The Trump administration appears to be failing us. They have not put in the requisite brain power to figure out the consequences of their actions. They have not thought the scenario through. I feel pretty confident that nobody in the Trump administration, including Pete Hegseth, has considered the Powell Doctrine. This was the doctrine that was adopted by Colin Powell (I probably shouldn’t have mentioned Colin Powell. This administration seems to have problems with Blacks and Women in the military), a four-star general, to help us avoid foreign entanglements. The Powell Doctrine consists of these seven points:
- Is a vital national security interest threatened?
- Do we have a clear, attainable objective?
- Have the risks and costs been fully analyzed?
- Have all other non-violent policy means been exhausted?
- Is there a plausible exit strategy?
- Is there broad international and domestic support?
- Decisive Force: If action is taken, should it be applied with overwhelming force to ensure a swift victory with minimal casualties?
Invading Iran was not in our national security interest. We have no clear objectives. The risks and costs were not even superficially analyzed. We had a nuclear treaty, which was negotiated under Obama, but torn up under Trump, and therefore, non-violent means were not exhausted. We have no exit strategy. We went into this conflict without domestic or international support. The only thing we got right was decisive force.
In other words, this entire operation against Iran is a major disaster that was completely avoidable.
We need our elected officials to think critically about these issues. Knee-jerk reactions are NOT acceptable. But unfortunately, this group doesn’t even know what “critical thinking” means. Their knee-jerk reaction to thinking critically is to claim that anyone who thinks differently from them is simply being critical.
Security Breach
The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington, DC, Hilton began shortly after all the patrons had been seated and the staff had begun serving food. There was a commotion outside the door. It appears that a gunman had run past the security scanners and either tripped and fell or was tackled to the ground. Shots were fired. A Secret Service member was hit in the vest and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. It is unclear from what I’ve read whether he was released immediately or later.
The gunman, who was from California, traveled all the way across the country to disrupt the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He had checked into the hotel before the event. From his writings, it appears that he harbored a grudge or took offense at the Trump administration.
Was this an assassination attempt? It doesn’t appear that shots were fired at the president. It appears that this gentleman had a plot to kill or harm high-ranking officials in the Trump administration, which would include the vice president and the president. Yet thankfully, no shots were fired within the ballroom. All the commotion took place upstairs outside the ballroom.
