Trump must show remarkable leadership qualities if he makes the tough call a preemptive strike on Iran to thwart nuke threat

On Wednesday, July 3, 1940, Winston Churchill had a decision before him as hard as any he ever had to take in his long career of statesmanship.If the Vichy French fleet stationed at Oran in Algeria were to fall into German hands, as seemed highly likely, it would, when combined with the German and Italian navies, pose an existential threat to his country, which after the Fall of France was already gearing itself up for the Battle of Britain.The French admiral would neither hand his fleet over to the Royal Navy, scuttle it, nor sail it to Canada.

So, after some anguished heartache, the lifelong Francophile Churchill ordered it to be sunk, which it was with the loss of 1,299 French sailors.There are some moments in history when a sudden act of opportune ruthlessness readjusts the world toward a safer path.In the Middle East, these include Israel’s surprise attacks that saved her from certain invasion in the Six-Day War of 1967 and her destruction of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility in 1981.Going back far further, impending invasions of Britain were foiled by Francis Drake sending fireships against the Spanish Armada in August 1588 and then-Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson preemptively destroying the Danish fleet at Copenhagen in 1801.Preemptive action sometimes works, but it requires remarkable leadership qualities.Does President Trump have them?For iIf Iran’s centrifuges are still spinning in its nuclear facility 300 feet underground at Fordow, then Israel will have only scored a tactical win, rather than the strategic victory she it needed.The successes against the upper echelons of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, military high command and nuclear scientists are commendable, but nothing like enough.Only the United States US has the 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs necessary to shatter Iranian nuclear ambitions.

So what does Trump do then?Benjamin Netanyahu certainly feels the weight of history on his shoulders.The son of a distinguished historian and ...