President Trump has told his acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, that he does not want to go to war with Iran, according to several administration officials, in a message to his hawkish aides that an intensifying American pressure campaign against the clerical-led government in Tehran must not escalate into open conflict.There was a process for diplomatic discussions with Iran. But between the machinations of chickenhawks like Pompeo and Bolton and the infantile dislike by Trump of everything Obama did, Trump blew that up last year.
The chickenhawks have persuaded Trump that by tightening things on Iran, that the Iranians would bend to their will. It hasn't happened. Other than the Saudis and the Israelis, who are always happy for Americans to shed blood and treasure for them, there is precious little support around the world for Bolton's War. To the rest of the world, the irrational player in this has been Trump. If anyone has managed to make the Iranian government appear to be a sober and thoughtful party, it has been Trump.
Trump may now want to talk to Iran, but to the Iranians, the current crisis has been manufactured by the chickenhawks. Trump has been painted into a corner by the chickenhawks.
He may now be realizing that Pompeo and Bolton are no friends of Trump, that they view Trump as a puppet whose strings they can pull.
2 comments:
Let's hope so, and hope that he doesn't believe war to be his best chance at reelection.
-Doug in Oakland
I think he is getting antsy that too many people are calling it Bolton's War. If it doesn't have his name on it you know he doesn't want it.
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