The guy pictured above, Robert Hubbell (an attorney, by the way), does a pretty good job, I think, of "decoding" what is actually going on in our national politics. For anyone reading this blog posting, but who is not already a subscriber to Hubbell's "Today's Edition," let me suggest, right here, that you subscribe yourself. Hubbell would appreciate your paid subscription, of course, but there is a "free" version.
On August 9th, Hubbell's newsletter had this title: "Trump’s new Iran war strategy: Pretend that it never happened." My immediate thought was this: wouldn't that be nice!
In fact, Hubbell immediately outlined what has, in fact, happened because of our current president's unilateral decision to launch a war against Iran - a "war" that has not been declared by our elected representatives in Congress, which is how our nation is supposed to "go to war," when the nation decides that it should.
The Constitution, as all should know, requires a debate in Congress, and then a decision by Congress, whenever our nation chooses to go to war. When and if the nation does decide to go to war, our elected president is then the "Commander in Chief." However, it's Congress, not the "Commander in Chief" which is required to make the decision to go to war. As is obvious, Mr. "I, alone, can fix it," never got the message. Similarly, he also acts like he hasn't understood that "Executive Orders" do not create new laws, but are intended to provide direction to Executive Branch employees as to how to implement the laws enacted by Congress.
Well, enough talk about "American Government 101." Almost everyone reading this probably already knows how our government is supposed to work. It's just too bad that our current president either knows and doesn't care or doen't know at all. I think it's the former, but I am, truly, not sure about that!
Here are a few of Hubbell's observations about our current (undeclared) war against Iran:
Over the weekend, there was a major shift in Iran’s negotiating position for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had previously issued a set of preconditions for a nuclear deal; over the weekend, Iran attached those preconditions to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The demands were issued by the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and likely reflect the ascendance of a more reactionary faction within Iran as unconfirmed rumors of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s impending death circulate. See Iran Wire, Exclusive: Iranian Leaders are Concerned About Mojtaba Khamenei’s Worsening Health. The demands include:
Payment of billions of dollars in reparations to Iran for damage caused by the US air war against Iran.
The release of all Iranian assets frozen by the US and its allies.
The cessation of insulting or threatening language from the US government toward Iran.
The cessation of the US naval blockade of Iran.
The withdrawal of US troops from the region.
The cessation of US military operations directed against Iran’s allies in the region....
As [a] WSJ news analysis ... notes, "For weeks, President Trump had been laying the groundwork to declare victory in the Iran war should Tehran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even floating the idea privately to senior aides that he’s willing to walk away without a nuclear deal, U.S. officials said."
But that scaled-back objective became more difficult when Iran insisted Saturday on its highest price yet for permitting the free flow of traffic in the waterway, seeking billions of dollars in U.S. payments, the removal of American troops from the region and an end of the U.S. naval blockade, among other things.
Per the WSJ, the new criterion for victory is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, regardless of Iran’s control over the strait. To state the obvious, reopening the strait under Iran’s control is a materially worse scenario than existed before the war.... Trump wants to find a pretext to walk away and pretend that the war never happened.
If we actually start following what is happening, we will understand that we have (1) spent billions of dollars, going further into debt; (2) used up scarce military supplies, making the United States more vulnerable elsewhere in the world; and (3) made everything worse, and have particularly given Iran a control lever over energy supplies, worldwide. No elimination of any possible nuclear threat from Iran has or will occur, and nuclear proliferation has actually increased, given our current president's commitment to provide nuclear bomb-making materials to Saudi Arabia.
I am, hereby, nominating the Iran War (a war never actually approved by the procedures spelled out in the Constitution) as: "The Worst War, Ever!"
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