Trump's closing defense summation

Don Adams, before gaining fame as Agent 86 Maxwell Smart, was a hoot as standup comic. One of his old bits from the 60's foreshadows the Trump's defense closing summation at his Impeachment Trial.

Defense Attorney to jury:
"It's easy for the prosecuting attorney to say all these terrible things to you about my client....he's got PROOF.

Walt Zlotow

Glen Ellyn

Time to re-establish original Iran Nuclear Deal

It’s perplexing the Tribune Editorial Board praises the President’s pullout from the 5 + 1 Iran Nuclear Deal in May, 2018, and champions Trump’s efforts to use onerous economic sanctions to force Iran to re-negotiate it (‘Time to refocus on a nuclear Iran’, Nov 4.) That’s because it was the single worst Trump foreign policy blunder so far, putting the US on a path to catastrophic war with Iran, all for no reason whatsoever.  

A little history. There was no nuclear Iran when the agreement was negotiated in July, 2015; not even a whiff of a program. The agreement hammered out re-affirmed Iran’s renunciation of nuclear weapons, and established safeguards ensuring ten years of compliance with that commitment in return for normalization of relations with Iran and removal of sanctions When the George W. Bush Administration lumped Iran into his ‘Axis of Evil’ speech following 911, Iran regime change, including possible war, was a real threat throughout Bush’s last 7 years. President Obama’s signature foreign policy accomplishment, negotiating the Iran Nuclear Deal, ended that threat and provided eight years of reduced tensions with Iran.

Enter the Donald Trump presidential bid of June, 2015. One of his core issues, along with pulling 20 million off health insurance, building a wall to keep out imaginary Mexican criminals, and ending any effort to control climate change, among others, was to overturn the Iran Nuclear Deal. Without a shred of support, other than from non-signatories Saudi Arabia and Israel, whose agenda was having the US neuter their hegemon rival Iran for Middle East dominance, Trump executed his pullout in May, 2018. He thought his new hard ball sanctions would force Iran to its knees, essentially having to negotiate away its sovereignty in order to survive. He didn’t learn the clear lesson given him by North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, who told Trump he’d be happy to negotiate scrapping North Korea’s nukes once Trump ended all North Korean sanctions.

That delusional Trump style diplomacy isn’t working with Iran either; never has, never will. Iran, though economically decimated by US sanctions, ceases to be a sovereign nation should it comply with demands no sane nation would accept. Their position, no re-negotiation without full sanctions relief is just, valid and smart. Trump is now boxed in. He can’t start a war which could possibly blow up the entire Middle East while inflicting enormous US casualties, and he can’t get Iran to capitulate short of ceding their sovereignty to the US bully.

The Trib Editorial Board is dreaming if it believes the other signatories including China, France, UK, Russia, Germany and the EU are getting on board. They opposed Trump’s colossally foolish power play and will continue working to salvage the current agreement, still the best hope for Middle East Peace.  

The Trib Editorial Board is out of touch with self-destructive US diplomacy against Iran. Its vast readership deserves better.

Dems should climb aboard Gabbard's peace train

Democratic candidates worried about Democratic Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's possible third party run should simply co-op her top campaign plank: ending America's perpetual wars. She is the only candidate to do so while all the others downplay their anti war bonafides to focus on domestic issues, avoiding the painful truth that endless war spells the downfall of America.

But Gabbard, who served four years in Iraq and Afghanistan with a medical field unit, is unapologetically anti war. She is the only candidate to criticize US regime change in Syria that has prolonged the civil war there for six years, adding millions to the dead, wounded and refugees. She opposes our enabling of the Saudi  war in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands and sentenced millions to disease and starvation. She consistently calls out US lies that fueled our criminal Iraq war.

Though ending her congressional career when her current terms ends in January, 2021, Gabbard just introduced a House Resolution to invoke the War Powers Act, directing the President to remove all US troops from Syria. Besides being in Syria without congressional approval, Gabbard's resolution points out Trump's plan to use remaining troops to steal Syrian oil, or at a minimum keep it from its lawful owners, a flagrant violation of international war.   

Polling at 2%, Gabbard has no chance of becoming the Democratic nominee. But the largely pro war Democratic establishment is so concerned about her possible third party run, they've trotted out Hillary Clinton to slime Gabbard as a possible Russian asset. Gabbard's response that Clinton is the "Queen of Warmongers" is dead accurate, reflecting Democrats fear of even considering anti war as a viable and critically needed campaign issue. 

Tulsi Gabbard deserves better from the Democratic Party...and so do all Americans.