Trump's Suggestion of Iran Strike Raises Bipartisan Alarm

[left-of-center2012]

Donald Trump risks a political backlash if he retaliates against Iran over a weekend strike on Saudi Arabian oil facilities after campaigning on promises to withdraw the U.S. from foreign wars. Trump said in a tweet that the U.S. is “locked and loaded,” raising bipartisan alarm after the weekend attack, which halved Saudi oil production. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said on Monday that Trump should consider attacking Iranian oil refineries.

The prospect of a strike on Iran in retaliation for an attack that didn’t target Americans or even a country with whom the U.S. has no defense treaty is proving divisive in Washington.

Saudi Arabia’s popularity is at a low over the prolonged war it’s fought in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate earlier this year.

Congress voted in April to cut off military support for Saudi Arabia over the Yemen war, legislation Trump vetoed. Before he was president, Trump himself expressed skepticism of U.S. military action on behalf of Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Arabia should fight their own wars, which they won’t, or pay us an absolute fortune to protect them and their great wealth-$ trillion!” he said in a 2014 tweet. But his tweet on Sunday indicated that he’s waiting for the kingdom to tell Trump what it wants us to do.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-16/trump-s-suggestion-of-iran-strike-raises-bipartisan-alarm?srnd=premium

[Straw Man]

1. He is s-o-o-o-o-o-o out of his depth.

This is where his incompetence gets really scary.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Iraq, only even worse.

[gratuitous]

3. But now Saudi Arabia is lining Trump's pockets

So they don't have to fight their own battles anymore. In fact, Trump is ready to hand over command of our military to Mohammed bin Salman. Hard to see anything going wrong with that!

[Sneederbunk]

4. Why would we retaliate for something done against Saudia Arabia?

We don't even retaliate against Saudi Arabia for what they do to us (9/11).