Trump Bombs Iran, Constitution, International Law, and Last Surviving MAGA Principle
Trump launched an illegal war against a nation that had not attacked the U.S. based on no intelligence in any sense of the word
Pres. Donald Trump last night became the third consecutive Republican president to engage in military conflict with a country that starts with the letters IRA, the second in a row to justify it with the letters WMD, and the first to admit openly that any intelligence justifying it is MIA.
The U.S. Air Force sent seven B-2 stealth bombers last night into the airspace of a country that had not attacked the U.S. and dropped 14 bombs never used in combat before, along with 30 cruise missiles fired by Navy submarines, targeting three Iranian sites that U.S. intelligence has determined were dedicated to the creation of nuclear fuel for generating electrical power.
You’d have to look pretty hard in today’s reporting to figure out whether anyone was killed, because that’s not super-high on any media priority lists. Salon, to its credit, noted that Iranian media reported no casualties. (Reportedly, the facilities had been evacuated “a long time ago,” which you’d think the U.S. would have known and which would’ve made it impossible for Iran to be making any progress on its alleged, denied bombs.)
A range of official estimates say there’s been no radioactive contamination at any of the three sites, which would be weird if they were really all destroyed and were really brimming with weapons-grade nuclear fuel. It’s almost as if…nah…
Another issue relegated to media sidebars is the fact that Trump just crimed again, issuing unlawful orders violating the Constitution and international law and probably four or six treaties I don’t even know about. What did the reasonable, rational center have to say about this radical, criminal act? Not a whole lot!
Iran immediately vowed to retaliate — with Death to the Great Satan! lawsuits v. the Great Satan. Reportedly, Iranian officials said they will take action against the U.S. in international courts, which aren’t recognized by rogue nations such as the U.S.
International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement:
“The world cannot absorb limitless war. Upholding international humanitarian law is not a choice—it is an obligation.”
And if Iran’s looking for more expert witnesses, they might wanna get testimony from some Americans about the illegality of Trump’s orders. Because powerful objection to Trump’s crime was left to those crazy lefties who actually give a shit about the norms the center supposedly holds so dear.
Here’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY):
The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers.
He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations.
It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) called it “an unambiguous impeachable offense.”
And here’s Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) — who’s so fanatical about his right-wing fanaticism that it sometimes trumps his loyalty to Trump — responding to Trump’s declaposting of war with, simply, “This is not constitutional.” (But not, “This is impeachable.”)
And Massie went on a full-blown tear this morning.
He retweeted Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who had posted: “Trump struck Iran without any authorization of Congress. We need to immediately return to DC and vote on @RepThomasMassie and my War Powers Resolution to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war.”
At 5:44am today, Massie posted:
“When two countries are bombing each other daily in a hot war, and a third country joins the bombing, that’s an act of war.
“I’m amazed at the mental gymnastics being undertaken by neocons in DC (and their social media bots) to say we aren’t at war… so they can make war.”
Massie then had a Twitter exchange with the Simone Biles of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). The exchange was about as one-sided as the U.S.-Iran War is (so far):
Johnson: The President made the right call, and did what he needed to do.
Leaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation and the Commander-in-Chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act.
The world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants “Death to America,” simply could not be allowed the opportunity to obtain and use nuclear weapons.
The President fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.
Massie: Why didn’t you call us back from vacation to vote on military action if there was a serious threat to our country?
More Massie: I introduced a War Powers Resolution on Tuesday, while Congress was on vacation. We would have had plenty of time to debate and vote on this.
According to U.S. intelligence, Iran was as far as three years away from producing a nuclear weapon. But no sign of Massie calling for impeachment, and no sign of anyone discussing prosecution of military members for carrying out unlawful orders. Let’s not get crazy!
Still, congressional Democratic leaders were absolutely outragedmiffed. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Trump “must” provide answers and shouldn’t be “allowed” to do what he’s currently being allowed to do. No call for impeachment. Nothing about the military carrying out unlawful orders. Definitely not shutting down the Senate, which Schumer could do.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) merely noted the lack of congressional authorization and called for briefing. House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) called the attack “unauthorized and unconstitutional” without proposing doing anything about it.
Rep. James Himes (D-CT), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, responded to Trump’s declaposting of war by writing, “According to the Constitution we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall. Full stop.”
Actually, don’t full stop, because that’s not what the Constitution says, so full keep going. The Constitution doesn’t require congressional “attention” or even briefings before war. Congress is the only institution with the power to declare war. Full stop.
It’s worth remembering — from as far back as earlier this month — that all of this was prompted by Iran’s outrageous incursion into the trajectory of Israeli missiles, rockets, and drones. It was Israel’s attack that “forced” Trump’s optional hand.
(And it’s Israel that declined to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which Iran did sign.)
According to the New York Times, the U.S. attacks targeted three Iranian nuclear-enrichment sites as follows:
Natanz: One B-2 bomber dropped two bunker-busters. Some of the 30 cruise missiles launched by Navy submarines struck here.
Fordo: Six B-2 bombers dropped 12 bunker-busters.
Isfahan: Some of the 30 cruise missiles launched by Navy submarines struck here.
As for whether it “worked,” there are multiple pieces to that. The strikes were supposed to not just take out the facilities, but also cow Iran into ending its attacks on Israel (self-defense or not), and return to negotiations it says they never left.
Did the strikes work by that metric? Reportedly, afterward, Iran unleashed two new rounds of attacks on Israel, wounding at least 16 people.
So, how is it there were no casualties at any of three massive scientific complexes struck by massive bombs? Therein lies a tale.
When the U.S. was prepping a large-scale assault on Iran’s alleged proxies in Yemen, the Houthi rebels there, top U.S. officials leaked the planning details in a Signal group chat in the hours beforehand. Since then, however, the U.S. has ramped up its attack-leaking system, escalating from private Signal chat to public podcast.
Trump ally and booster and ostensible antiwar leader Steve Bannon tipped off Iran air defenses to prepare to shoot down American pilots, reportedly saying on his podcast on Saturday morning that “I’m just reporting what I’m hearing from pretty good sources: The party is on. So, another big weekend.”
And you may remember that on Thursday the thinking was that Trump gave Iran up to two weeks to see whether diplomacy would work only as a deception, to make Iran complacent and vulnerable to an immediate strike. Which did not come until Saturday, giving Iran two whole days to become uncomplacent.
So, not surprisingly, Iran’s nuclear team was all safe at home, meaning Iran’s nuclear team remains intact. Or at least as intact as it was after Israel killed some of its leaders.
Trump said last night that the three targeted Iranian nuclear-enrichment sites were “completely and totally obliterated.” Which is the kind of thing you couldn’t tell from aerial surveillance immediately after the fact, meaning Trump was either revealing the existence of U.S. intelligence assets (humans!) on the ground at the sites, or, far more likely, yet again face-blowing sentences he would like to be true.
It would be super weird if one day worth of strikes did anything completely and totally, if only because, as Politico reports, a Pentagon assessment earlier this year determined it would take 30 days — more than twice Trump’s preferred two-week unit of time — of sustained U.S. airstrikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Plus, the bunker-busters had never been used in combat before and the exact nature of the protective shielding at the sites wasn’t known.
Even Iran said it doesn’t know the extent of the damage, and I’m positive that Iran is on the ground in Iran. According to one Iranian lawmaker, “the damages are not irreversible,” adding, “you cannot bomb knowledge,” in an apparent jab at Trump, who would like to bomb knowledge.
Just on the face of it — or 200 feet below the face of it — it would seem incredibly difficult to get a bomb 200 feet down and then detonate it, but still leave an open path for the next bomb to then drill down 200 feet further before exploding. I could be wrong, of course, as I am not a TV news pundit.
The Politics
Before Trump’s two-weeks bullshit on Thursday, he had lunch with Bannon. Reportedly, Bannon warned him that the bunker-busters might be a bust, the Israeli intelligence might be bunk, and that attacking endangered U.S. troops in the region. Including non-troops — who are still technically considered people — the U.S. has some 40,000 human targets in harm’s potential way.
Bannon’s warnings notwithstanding, Iran’s fate was probably sealed the moment Trump realized the Nobel committee was never, ever going to give him the peace prize, not so much because of his war-mongering but oslo for not mongering war as stylishly as Pres. Barack Obama did.
And apparently the White House thinks last night’s airstrikes don’t count because Steven Spielberg didn’t shoot footage of U.S. troops hitting the beaches on the Caspian Sea. Here’s Politico’s reporting based on quotes from an unnamed Trump lickspittle:
…a “surgical” strike, one that didn’t put boots on the ground or directly jeopardize American lives, would not run afoul of the president’s pledge to avoid the kinds of long and costly wars that dogged previous administrations, “which are the sort of main thrusts of the things that a majority of Americans, would oppose in the medium to long term.”
Obviously, Trump wanted to keep the operation limited, or “surgical,” in order to avoid pulling resources from the military’s other front in Los Angeles.
But it also sounds as though Trump thought missiles and bombs would be okay because he assumes Americans oppose war solely due to the prospect of American casualties. It simply may not have occurred to him that some Americans don’t want America killing other people, even from the safety and convenience of a drone-operations console.
Trump’s loyalest loyalists have already rubberstamped Trump’s claim that his new war is peace, and that orwell that ends well. Some samplings from the White House page this morning touting GOP endorsements of his illegal act of war:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD): “I stand with President Trump and pray for the American troops and personnel [he just put] in harm’s way.”
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY): “The greatest threat to the safety of the United States and the world is [America seeing WMDs anywhere, such as] Iran with a nuclear weapon.”
Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR): “President Trump made the right call and the ayatollahs should recall his warning not to target Americans [the way we just targeted Iranians].”
There’s another takeaway from the White House shoutout page. Dropping never-used-in-conflict bombs from the air and shooting cruise missiles from the sea definitely is not a perpetuation of the forever wars Trump hilariously pledged to definitely not perpetuate:
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch (R-ID): “This is not the start of a forever war.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK): “To those concerned about U.S. involvement— this isn’t a ‘forever war’ in fact [sic], it’s ending one.”
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL): “President Trump has pledged to get us out of ‘forever wars.’ This could be a step toward ending the war we have been in with Iran since 1979 [not counting overthrowing the prime minister in 1953 and sustaining the shah afterwards].
Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA): “I also remain committed to ensuring our troops … are protected and not engaged in a forever war.”
With all the Orwellian spewage spewing from the bottomless orwell of Trump’s emotional-support clowns, he might mistakenly have thought himself immune from right-wing blowback. (I mean, can you imagine if Pres. Kamala Harris had said, “God bless the Middle East,” as Trump did last night?)
But Trump’s strikes failed to completely and totally obliterate MAGA opposition. Here’s Bannon, after the strikes:
“An overwhelming majority of the [American and Iranian] people don’t want to get involved in any of this.” More:
Podcaster Theo Von: “It was supposed to be America First … [but] now it just feels like we’re working for Israel.”
Alleged comedian Dave Smith: “Donald Trump has now launched an illegal war of aggression … on behalf of a foreign government against a country that posed no threat to us.”
You can almost smell the antisemitism seething to burst free in the next round of rants against Israel successfully playing Trump.
Turning Points USA’s Charlie Kirk said last night, “For the next few hours, spare us the armchair quarterbacking,” and then, during the next few hours, armchair quarterbacked that “Americans might get caught in the crosshairs.”
Tucker Carlson, of course, warned beforehand that this was a bad idea unfounded by intelligence dismissed by people without intelligence.
As former Obama guy and, ergo, current podcaster Tommy Vietor noted last night, Trump promised his supporters in his re-inauguration speech literally just months ago…
We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into. My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier.
Can you imagine what Trump’s less proud legacy will be? Oh, right, he’s already sold out his base by admitting that, yeah, tariffs really are taxes on them, and yeah he’s cutting food relief and Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security, all to fund his real proudest legacy of cutting taxes for the richest people in the world.
Media Watch
Here’s an AP headline I grabbed:
Stepped? Between? I mean, TFN would hate to step between war between the AP and reality, but…no.
Bottom Line
There actually is some chance that things won’t escalate. As I’ve noted before, Iran could schedule its payback for years down the road. Or things could…change.
Could things get really bad, really fast, with Iran striking enough U.S. targets to whip up stupid American nationalism in support of boots on the ground and wholesale bloodshed of many different bloods? I mean, yeah. It’s possible.
There are lots of possibilities, though, so let’s not assume the worst is pre-ordained. Keep calm. But carry on.
TFN creator and writer Jonathan Larsen co-created Up w/ Chris Hayes and wrote for Countdown with Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, helped launch CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and Air America Radio, and has also worked at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Young Turks.
simone biles of the house, oslo for not mongering, orwell that ends well!??!???
my man is on a fucking HEATER 🔥
I so very much needed this excellent rogering of news. Thank you. I would like a further deflowering of the excuse: this is obviously NOT about nuclear proliferation; if anything, the actions ensure that not only Iran, but other nations will pursue nuclear readiness with everything they’ve got. This is only the End of the Beginning. Welcome.