Beware departure of Tillerson at State

As the evidence piles up implicating Trump officials and likely Trump himself with election collusion with Russia and its subsequent coverup, a more ominous development deserves scrutiny. That is the rumored departure of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State to be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and Pompeo to be replaced at CIA by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). Both are extreme neoconservatives advocating rescinding the 5 + 1 nuclear deal with Iran which would put the US on a slippery slope of war with Iran. Pompeo has been a strong advocate of torture and, as a Christian zealot, believes in the rapture, which might insulate him from fretting about catastrophic war. Cotton was so opposed to the Iran nuclear deal, the single greatest foreign policy accomplishment of Obama's eight years, he traitorously wrote the letter sent by him and 46 other Republican senators to Iran urging them to reject that war saving deal in 2015. These moves would elevate into the Iran fray Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, a fervent supporter of both Israel and Saudi Arabia's goading the US to demolish their rival Iran. Tillerson is the only moderate on Trump's foreign policy team. Pompeo, Cotton and Kushner want him out so they can play their war games at the world's expense. That, and not Trump's treachery with Russia, is what should make us fear for the cause of peace.