Past presidents claimed Iran couldnt have nuclear weapons Trump is the only one to take action
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, Trump began the current military campaign.If he hadn’t acted, his successor would have been left with an even more dangerous choice than his predecessors left him.Three or four years from now, the Iranian missiles now hitting Iran’s neighbors could be hitting Berlin or London, perhaps even New York or Washington—perhaps with a nuclear device or at least a dirty bomb.No sensible person wants a war, a president least of all.
Wars destroy lives, waste treasure and usually are unpopular.But the widespread hostility to this military action seems untethered to any serious discussion of the merits.
What is the alternative?Obviously, few are prepared to say it is simply to permit religious madmen who swear “death to America” and back up their threats with terrorism to secure nuclear weapons and the capability to deliver them.The scope and scale of Iran’s response show how much its military capabilities have progressed, and how dangerous it would have been to permit them to increase further.For three decades we have tried everything that each president could think of.
We’ve tried being nice, talking tough, moral suasion, negotiated agreement, economic sanctions.None worked.
The problem is...