JimofPennsylvan
Platinum Member
- Jun 6, 2007
- 954
- 717
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Good members of Congress can turn this egregiously wrongful decision by President Trump in bombing Iran and use it to reverse President Trump's outstandingly bad and shameful for our country's decision to stop giving Ukraine weapons so that it can accelerate the arrival of the situation where Russia agrees to end the war! President Trump's decision to bomb Iran was an illegal decision it was starkly illegal because it was in violation of the U.S. Constitution specifically in violation of the War Powers Act which rests the power to declare war solely in the hands of Congress and the U.S. military's actions in bombing Iran were an act of war against Iran! President Trump's allies try to make a defense in saying that Iran had taken steps to rebuild its nuclear weapons program or that its missile program was on the verge of becoming more advanced which could inflict more harm on America if used against America. This isn't a legitimate justification a country taking steps to gain the know how to build a nuclear missile or taking steps to building a nuclear reactor or build centrifuges isn't sufficient because the standard the President has to meet is that the country needs to be in imminent danger from the actions of the country to be attacked. None of what Iran was currently doing passed the imminent danger test; the circumstances that were currently existing with Iran were types of things that faced American President from Iran throughout the past twenty-five years and only President Trump took military action over them and truth of the matter is that he did it because he thinks he has the discretion to ignore the law if he so chooses he is short in the character department as President because he doesn't believe he is restrained by U.S. law like a good President should think!
If Congress was straightforwardly doing its job they would immediately pass a bill telling the President that with this bombing of Iran that the Trump administration violated the Constitution's War Powers Act and to immediately cease and desist bombing Iran unless you are doing so to protect America citizens or American military personnel or government installations from imminent attack or justly responding to such attacks from Iran or its proxies. He probably wouldn't sign it because he is too authoritarian, but Congress would have established a record that they stood up for U.S. law and the principle that it should be adhered to by the President which would put them in good light in the American electorate's eyes on this issue and President Trump in bad light in this respect!
The predicament that President Trump has got himself in with this Iran bombing is really really bad; President Trump is looking for regime change in Iran where he gets a pro-American/pro-Israel regime where President Trump can negotiate with them a deal where they commit to no nuclear weapons program of any sort, no being a state sponsor of terrorism and no development and procurement of inter and intra continental ballistic missiles. It ain't happening the Republican Guard and their brutal allies are extremely strong they aren' t going to allow a popular uprising, an Arab Spring action, that rushes in a democratically elected good government, they will squash any rising prodemocracy movements like they are bugs! The Republican Guard will facilitate Iran's top clerics selecting a Grand Ayatollah who is an orthodox Islamist who will be militant about helping the Palestinian brothers get their own state which rallies Iran's population to support the Cleric leadership and things will go back to the status quo. The new Grand Ayatollah will probably enter into an agreement with the international community that Iran won't acquire a nuclear weapon but can enrich uranium same as the deal reached during the Obama administration. All this bombing and the loss of three U.S. soldiers and the serious wounding of two others will have been for naught, another major screw-up by President Trump!
Congress should select a leadership team to go to President Trump and say President Trump we will take significant concrete steps to give you a good exit ramp on Iran on one major condition that you go back to the bi-partisan policy on Ukraine that existed before you wore sworn in on January 2025 and keep it for the balance of your Presidency which is that the U.S. government gives weapons to Ukraine not sells weapons to Nato countries and allows them to give them to Ukraine. Specifically part of the conditions are that President Trump agrees to sign into law a bill that appropriates $25 billion to Ukraine for fiscal year 2026 and $25 billion for fiscal year 2027 largely for weapons for Ukraine! This policy has compelling moral justification President Putin has made his ambitions clear which is to reconstitute the old Soviet Union which means taking existing NATO countries which means that this war Ukraine is fighting if they succeed will protect America from having to fight a war in the near future to stop Vladimir Putin and his Russian army from taking Poland; in addition, the suffering of the Ukrainian people at the hands of the Russian Army is so severe it is hard to contemplate and basic humanity here calls for outstanding efforts to be made to stop this Russian army which this policy will do!
What can the Congress do for President Trump they can in a bill give him the authority to conduct an air campaign against Iran for up to two years and provide money for the CIA to equip and help pro democracy movements in Iran; the bill must mandate no U.S. troops on the ground in Iran! This will give the Trump administration the tools they need to bring about a good regime change in Iran. I wish I could advocate going to the UN to facilitate the creation of a good democracy in Iran but unfortunately the governing structure of the UN where any member of the Security Council can block a UN effort practically means that definitely Russia and probably China will protect the current powers to be in Iran so no UN effort will be fruitful! The path that the Trump administration should follow is use the Arab League and the European Union to try to try to broker and/or with their intelligence assets working with the U.S. intelligence assets bring down the current regime and raise up a good democracy with fair elections. Don't get behind or openly support the Shah of Iran's son it is to risky the Shah was a bad man the world doesn't want to see a monarchy rise up in Iran it wants to see a good human rights protecting Democracy.
This international transition effort can go to the Republican Guard leadership and the cleric leadership and say we can negotiate your permanent removal from power and Iran's transition to a bona-fide Democracy through diplomacy in a timely manner or we can bring it about through violence your choice if you choose diplomacy no games! If they agree work out the details. If these Iranian bad guys don't agree or play games do the following; First, many media sources distinguish between the regular Iranian army and the Republican Guard they say that the regular Iranian Army aren't bad guys if that is true then negotiate with them that they will stand down against resisting democracy and from helping the Republican Guard and the political clerics hold on to power. Now for taking on the Republican Guard and the clerics try to kill and weaken them through an air campaign but most importantly embark on a massive assassination campaign and I not only mean leaders of the Republican Guard but clerical leadership if there is no Grand Ayatollah and no ayatollah council there is no theocracy so then a democracy can take hold. These top Iranian clerical leaders need to say publicly I permanently disavow a theocracy in Iran, I am committed that clerics should not have any direct governmental power they should not be making any government personnel or policy decisions they should not get involved in politics and holding rallies and protests. The clerics have their free speech rights they can say what policy on candidate is good or bad but not engage in forms of political advocacy over such things. The Republican Guard and for that matter the Iranian Army should commit in writing to turn over all their business holdings to the Iranian civilian government and for at least the next forty years not take possession or control of any businesses, this money spring is the source of corruption and an abusive military! As power is wrested from the Republican Guard missile depots and bases they can be turned over to Iranian regular army. After any problem causing Clerical leadership and any significant Republican Guard leadership is killed and the Republican Guard as a force is essentially eliminated, full and fair lections can be scheduled! In this process the international transition effort countries intelligence services can create, grow and/or work with local militias to facilitate the demise of the Republican Guard, their thug allies and the theocratic clerics that make up the bad elements of the current government as long as these militias agree to disband once a democratically elected government is up and running in Iran!
If President Donald Trump plays his cards right he could snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat here! Because the facts so far look like President Trump took an M60 and unloaded it on his base, his base wanted him to focus on domestic matters like reduce the cost of food, healthcare and housing not get in an avoidable war with a country embedded with a lot of lethal power!
If Congress was straightforwardly doing its job they would immediately pass a bill telling the President that with this bombing of Iran that the Trump administration violated the Constitution's War Powers Act and to immediately cease and desist bombing Iran unless you are doing so to protect America citizens or American military personnel or government installations from imminent attack or justly responding to such attacks from Iran or its proxies. He probably wouldn't sign it because he is too authoritarian, but Congress would have established a record that they stood up for U.S. law and the principle that it should be adhered to by the President which would put them in good light in the American electorate's eyes on this issue and President Trump in bad light in this respect!
The predicament that President Trump has got himself in with this Iran bombing is really really bad; President Trump is looking for regime change in Iran where he gets a pro-American/pro-Israel regime where President Trump can negotiate with them a deal where they commit to no nuclear weapons program of any sort, no being a state sponsor of terrorism and no development and procurement of inter and intra continental ballistic missiles. It ain't happening the Republican Guard and their brutal allies are extremely strong they aren' t going to allow a popular uprising, an Arab Spring action, that rushes in a democratically elected good government, they will squash any rising prodemocracy movements like they are bugs! The Republican Guard will facilitate Iran's top clerics selecting a Grand Ayatollah who is an orthodox Islamist who will be militant about helping the Palestinian brothers get their own state which rallies Iran's population to support the Cleric leadership and things will go back to the status quo. The new Grand Ayatollah will probably enter into an agreement with the international community that Iran won't acquire a nuclear weapon but can enrich uranium same as the deal reached during the Obama administration. All this bombing and the loss of three U.S. soldiers and the serious wounding of two others will have been for naught, another major screw-up by President Trump!
Congress should select a leadership team to go to President Trump and say President Trump we will take significant concrete steps to give you a good exit ramp on Iran on one major condition that you go back to the bi-partisan policy on Ukraine that existed before you wore sworn in on January 2025 and keep it for the balance of your Presidency which is that the U.S. government gives weapons to Ukraine not sells weapons to Nato countries and allows them to give them to Ukraine. Specifically part of the conditions are that President Trump agrees to sign into law a bill that appropriates $25 billion to Ukraine for fiscal year 2026 and $25 billion for fiscal year 2027 largely for weapons for Ukraine! This policy has compelling moral justification President Putin has made his ambitions clear which is to reconstitute the old Soviet Union which means taking existing NATO countries which means that this war Ukraine is fighting if they succeed will protect America from having to fight a war in the near future to stop Vladimir Putin and his Russian army from taking Poland; in addition, the suffering of the Ukrainian people at the hands of the Russian Army is so severe it is hard to contemplate and basic humanity here calls for outstanding efforts to be made to stop this Russian army which this policy will do!
What can the Congress do for President Trump they can in a bill give him the authority to conduct an air campaign against Iran for up to two years and provide money for the CIA to equip and help pro democracy movements in Iran; the bill must mandate no U.S. troops on the ground in Iran! This will give the Trump administration the tools they need to bring about a good regime change in Iran. I wish I could advocate going to the UN to facilitate the creation of a good democracy in Iran but unfortunately the governing structure of the UN where any member of the Security Council can block a UN effort practically means that definitely Russia and probably China will protect the current powers to be in Iran so no UN effort will be fruitful! The path that the Trump administration should follow is use the Arab League and the European Union to try to try to broker and/or with their intelligence assets working with the U.S. intelligence assets bring down the current regime and raise up a good democracy with fair elections. Don't get behind or openly support the Shah of Iran's son it is to risky the Shah was a bad man the world doesn't want to see a monarchy rise up in Iran it wants to see a good human rights protecting Democracy.
This international transition effort can go to the Republican Guard leadership and the cleric leadership and say we can negotiate your permanent removal from power and Iran's transition to a bona-fide Democracy through diplomacy in a timely manner or we can bring it about through violence your choice if you choose diplomacy no games! If they agree work out the details. If these Iranian bad guys don't agree or play games do the following; First, many media sources distinguish between the regular Iranian army and the Republican Guard they say that the regular Iranian Army aren't bad guys if that is true then negotiate with them that they will stand down against resisting democracy and from helping the Republican Guard and the political clerics hold on to power. Now for taking on the Republican Guard and the clerics try to kill and weaken them through an air campaign but most importantly embark on a massive assassination campaign and I not only mean leaders of the Republican Guard but clerical leadership if there is no Grand Ayatollah and no ayatollah council there is no theocracy so then a democracy can take hold. These top Iranian clerical leaders need to say publicly I permanently disavow a theocracy in Iran, I am committed that clerics should not have any direct governmental power they should not be making any government personnel or policy decisions they should not get involved in politics and holding rallies and protests. The clerics have their free speech rights they can say what policy on candidate is good or bad but not engage in forms of political advocacy over such things. The Republican Guard and for that matter the Iranian Army should commit in writing to turn over all their business holdings to the Iranian civilian government and for at least the next forty years not take possession or control of any businesses, this money spring is the source of corruption and an abusive military! As power is wrested from the Republican Guard missile depots and bases they can be turned over to Iranian regular army. After any problem causing Clerical leadership and any significant Republican Guard leadership is killed and the Republican Guard as a force is essentially eliminated, full and fair lections can be scheduled! In this process the international transition effort countries intelligence services can create, grow and/or work with local militias to facilitate the demise of the Republican Guard, their thug allies and the theocratic clerics that make up the bad elements of the current government as long as these militias agree to disband once a democratically elected government is up and running in Iran!
If President Donald Trump plays his cards right he could snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat here! Because the facts so far look like President Trump took an M60 and unloaded it on his base, his base wanted him to focus on domestic matters like reduce the cost of food, healthcare and housing not get in an avoidable war with a country embedded with a lot of lethal power!
