Caught in the middle between process and opportunity – Cape Cod Times

Last week, we looked into some background information for Iran and its neighbors. Now we can discuss the presidents decision to take out Irans General Soleimani with a drone strike. At this writing, it is unclear what urgent reasons we had to justify assassinating a major figure of a sovereign nation on the territory of another sovereign nation, but evidently we had a clear opportunity to do it.

Soleimani has long been a threat to our national interests, so weve had decades to strike and did not. Trumps decision to take out Soleimani is an expression of his America First philosophy, summarized by a White House official as, Were America, bitc*. From this vantage point, previous administrations have suffered from a testosterone deficiency. Its really very simple. Soleimani was a bad guy. We came. We saw. We blew him up. Any reprisals and well blow you away, too.

Iran caved, nervously shot down a Ukrainian airliner, lied about it, and its citizens hit the streets protesting their own government. So far, this is a round Trump has certainly won. Whats not to like?

Democrats reflexively condemned Trumps actions, exposing themselves to charges of lacking the manhood and patriotism required to defend the country and its interests. Knee-jerk partisanship aside, what, if anything, was wrong with what we did?

Its always been America first. Trump didnt invent that. But formerly, its been America in concert with a team of allies with whom weve made mutually beneficial agreements. Its in the nature of collaboration to make deals in which all parties give something, get something, and walk away content their collective national interests are served. In a dangerous world, its good to have friends. We could have gotten consensus internally and with allies about acting when opportunity presented and didnt.

Osama bin Laden and Al Baghdadi were terrorists, citizens of nowhere. Soleimani was an Iranian national official and we had not declared war. Its not that anyone here is sympathetic to the man; its that if America violates its own protocols as well as international understandings, we open our own leaders to similar attacks. When we threaten to destroy a nations sacred sites and historical treasures, we threaten to commit war crimes our country previously agreed to avoid. These things should matter.

Its understood that there are short-term opportunities that do not permit extensive consultation with allies or Congress, but what Trump did was an act of war and may still precipitate one. No party should want to give the chief executive powers they wouldnt be willing to live with if they lost the next election. This time, it worked. But civilization is all about rules, about process, checks and balances, treaties, consultations and consensus.

The main problem with Trump is that he has contempt for due process in almost any form. He boasts of acting impulsively, unilaterally, and encourages his supporters to feel good about it, too.

History is a long game. Weaken due process and we strengthen Russia and China, enemies of democracy and human rights. Surrender the moral high ground and no nation, no population anywhere will look to us with hope or trust. God forbid the only reason other nations have to prefer America over these other actors is that we have troops on their soil, or have them by the throat.

Despite the administrations protests to the contrary, the impeachment process is about more than cut-throat partisanship. Trumps public utterances, his erratic behavior and indifference to the truth are genuinely terrifying to a broad segment of the country. He shot from the hip and hit his target, but that doesnt mean shooting from the hip is good governance or safe practice in a dangerous and complex world.

Lawrence Brown of Centerville teaches humanities and is a columnist for the Cape Cod Times. Email him at columnresponse@gmail.com.

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Caught in the middle between process and opportunity - Cape Cod Times