Politico published a troubling story on Thursday. Senior US officials allegedly want Israel to strike Iran before Washington launches a renewed assault in order to build domestic backing for war.
If that’s true, it won’t work. Iran will strike back at Israel.
Advisers to President Donald Trump are “privately arguing that an Israeli attack would trigger Iran to retaliate, helping muster support from American voters for a U.S. strike,” the outlet writes, citing two people familiar with the discussions.
“The calculus is a political one—that more Americans would stomach a war with Iran if the United States or an ally were attacked first,” Politico continues.
This would likely mean a protracted, wide-scale war, if true. Whose support will they gain?
The Problems
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly responded. “The media may continue to speculate on the president’s thinking all they want, but only President Trump knows what he may or may not do.” The Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment.
Only last week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was in an emergency meeting with President Trump at the White House. Israel wants us to take on Iran.
Weapons are one thing, but going to war for a foreign country when we have a war at home is not acceptable to many Americans.
The US has troops in harm’s way, and there are Iranian cells here in the US that could be ignited. Also, what will this do to the relationships Trump has established in the Middle East?
This is not our war, and we allegedly swore off regime change. However, some of Trump’s advisors are of concern for their warmongering.
Troops in Qatar and Bahrain are being drawn down, and it looks like the US is going to strike soon.
If he only strikes the new nuclear facility, it might be doable.
