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question everything

(52,047 posts)
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 12:29 AM Yesterday

Partisanship on Iran Is Dangerous for America - David Boies WSJ op-ed

(I read the oped and am posting because I, and most here share a lot of respect for David Boies who argued in front of SCOTUS the cases of Bush v Gore and the one that led to same sex marriage).

Every past president since Bill Clinton, Republican and Democrat alike, has declared that Iran couldn’t be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. Not one acted to prevent it. Every president since Ronald Reagan has condemned Iran’s role in terrorism against American citizens, interests and allies. Not one acted to stop it. Instead each president left his successor with a more dangerous Iran and a more complicated threat to address.

Last June President Trump undertook a limited military operation designed to interrupt Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and discourage the country from continuing its nuclear program. In the face of Iran’s refusal to forswear nuclear weapons and evidence that it was rapidly increasing the number, sophistication and range of its missiles, Mr. Trump began the current military campaign.

(snip)

I understand some of the hostility to Mr. Trump’s action. The isolationist wing of the Republican Party and the pacifist wing of the Democratic Party each are wrapped in the fantasy that we can afford to ignore the capabilities and intentions of enemies because they are thousands of miles away. Two hundred years ago that view was credible. One hundred years ago it was plausible. Today it takes only one missile carrying a nuclear or dirty bomb to get through our defenses, or one such device smuggled into this country, to devastate a city.

I also understand—and deplore—the fringes of both parties that apparently hate Israel and Jews so much that they oppose any action to neutralize Israel’s enemies. What is harder to understand, and particularly troubling for our country, is opposition rooted simply in antipathy toward Mr. Trump himself. We used to say that politics stops at the water’s edge. That was never completely true; the willingness to bludgeon a president over foreign policy for domestic political gain is as old as Vice President Thomas Jefferson’s attacks on President John Adams. Yet for most of our history we have given the president the benefit of the doubt.

(snip)

America’s national security is too important to hold hostage to partisanship. We Democrats need to begin by asking what our position would be, and why, if the action had been taken by Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden. I’m not counting on it, but maybe in 2029, when a Democrat is in the White House, our Republican neighbors will return the favor, and judge that president’s efforts to keep our nation safe on the merits and not merely obstruct.

More..

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/partisanship-on-iran-is-dangerous-for-america-c8b69387?st=QaPnYv&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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Blues Heron

(8,729 posts)
1. those days are long gone, the pukes have declared war on us and we are supposed to support this insanity?
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 12:54 AM
Yesterday

He is entitled to his opinion, but it seems like maybe he hasn’t really been paying attention to what’s been going on lately with the madman. As American we should never support a traitorous pedophile, we should use our voices to urge his removal, not rally around him because he’s bombing people.

usonian

(24,878 posts)
2. There ARE no merits to a Pearl Harbor kind of attack to replace an agreement that Trump ripped up.
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 12:56 AM
Yesterday

Previous wars or "non-wars" were fabricated from the finest bullshit.

"Tonkin Gulf", "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

And this action was in complete opposition to what Trump ran on.

Death is not partisan.













It is a complete fabrication, It is part of the Epstein Distraction Act, and since "waffling" has usually been a successful campaign weapon, Democrats need to "Tell it on the Mountain" 24 by 7 by as long as it takes. Contradiction can be held in cult members' brains only up to a certain point.

AND IT'S A GIGANTIC FUCKIN LIE.

As a draft-age person, the most hated phrase I heard was "My country right or wrong". It was wrong. The war was a lie that shredded lives.

The people of the U.S. and the people of Israel are being led by madmen, perhaps with something to hide.

Hitler was going to Make Germany Great Again.



People failed to stop him, and the military and civilian casualties were enormous.

The Republican party has consistently, and in lock-step, supported nazi ideologies, neutered constitutional checks and balances, and supported a criminal sociopath and his fellow sociopaths. This is not "PARTISAN" in any way. It's a cult in every way.

Comments on Boies withheld.

question everything

(52,047 posts)
8. I think that his point is that regardless of how detestable the current occupant of the White House is
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 01:23 PM
18 hrs ago

and the way he cancelled the agreement that Obama reached, the threat from Iran is real and is getting stronger.

Their missiles already reached Cyprus and Turkey. The way this current occupant decided on a war was the way he does everything. Blurts or types the first thing that occurs to him without thinking about implementation. (So much for being an executive).

But the danger is real and, his opinion is that to object to block Iran because of the current occupant is like cutting one’s nose etc.

I have strongly objected to the current war but reading this op-ed caused me to pause.

Will be interesting to read the letters commenting on this.

usonian

(24,878 posts)
9. If the only way to prevent war is war, then the planet is doomed, as the SciFi writers have said.
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 01:42 PM
18 hrs ago

There is no diplomacy among madmen.

And we now see a world dominated by them.

IF people wise up to this, the planet will survive.

Otherwise, the world will continue to divide along lines of nationalism, religious hatred, race hatred and oligarchy, which are EASILY exploited to peoples' own loss and suffering. It's the fascist playbook, that gets played over, and over, and over again.

And bye, bye!

We can make a choice right here. Just one? you say?
It all has to start somewhere.
Or it doesn't.

Survival of the nicest.

Skittles

(171,284 posts)
3. oh JFC
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 03:33 AM
Yesterday

what a bunch of fucking nonsense:

I also understand—and deplore—the fringes of both parties that apparently hate Israel and Jews so much that they oppose any action to neutralize Israel’s enemies. What is harder to understand, and particularly troubling for our country, is opposition rooted simply in antipathy toward Mr. Trump himself.

Bobstandard

(2,268 posts)
4. More utter nonsense, this from first paragraph
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 10:32 AM
21 hrs ago
Every past president since Bill Clinton, Republican and Democrat alike, has declared that Iran couldn’t be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. Not one acted to prevent it


In 2015 Obama negotiated a nuclear weapons treaty with Iran called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2015. It limited Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, ensuring that Iran would not develop nuclear weapons for at least a decade. Iran was keeping tp the deal until Trump killed it.

Intractable

(1,973 posts)
7. What a load of garbage!
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 01:02 PM
18 hrs ago

If Trump wanted to pursue action against Iran in a legitimate way, he'd have sought the consent of Congress and after that, gathered a coalition of allied countries.

RussBLib

(10,584 posts)
11. Uh, David, have you noticed that Trump...
Sat Mar 14, 2026, 04:26 PM
15 hrs ago

…in short, is a lot different than any previous president? This orange fucker lies about everything and is pilfering dollars as fast as he can. He cannot be trusted to EVER do the right thing by the people of the US.

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