Iran has admitted that in fear of an attack by the United States, they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian civilian airliner. That they admitted this is good but since it took three days, was it the overwhelming public evidence, internal political struggle or something else? Russia has still not admitted the shoot down of the Malaysian airliner, flight 17, even after the Dutch investigation found shrapnel from the rocket in the bodies of the crew. And don’t forget the shoot down of an Iranian airliner by the USS Vincennes in 1988 and Korea airlines flight 007 shot down by Russia in 1982. In all these cases there was plenty of coulda-shoulda about precautions that might have been taken. In the end it is the insanity of war.
No one in the Trump administration has been able to provide evidence of an imminent threat to justify the assassination of the Iranian general which brought us to the brink of war with Iran and indirectly the death of one hundred and seventy-six innocent people on a civilian airliner.
As president, I don’t want to kill anyone and will do my best to avoid the need to do so. If we are attacked, defend against the attack and punish the immediate attacker. The Middle East is complicated and we cannot tolerate attacks by proxies. However President Trump is making it worse though the extreme economic sanctions and campaign of maximum pressure on Iran. It will take generations to repair the damage done and the historic animosities in the region. Our effort should be directed to getting all involved to live within the boundaries of their individual nations.
