What did Donald Trump do today?
He threatened atrocities against Iran and signaled surrender on the same day.
There were two stories out of Trump's disastrous war on Iran today. The first came as he once again threatened to destroy civilian infrastructure, which is a war crime. Specifically, he said he would target critical desalination plants that provide the most populous regions, already dangerously parched, with drinking water.
This is such a serious crime that famed Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led the liberation of Kuwait during the first Gulf War, moved up his attack on Saddam Hussein's occupying army because of reports Iraq was attacking Kuwait's desalination plant. He described it as an atrocity:
GEN. SCHWARZKOPF: We were worried about the weather. The weather, it turned out, was going to get pretty bad the next day, and we were worried about launching this air assault. And we also started to have a huge number of atrocities, of really the most unspeakable type, committed in downtown Kuwait City, to include reports that the desalination plant had been destroyed. And when we heard that, we were quite concerned about what might be going on.
But, according to White House staff, Trump is also "bored" with the war and considering simply abandoning the effort, with the Strait of Hormuz under active Iranian blockade.
That would leave the Iranian clerical/military regime in firmer control of its population than ever, with enormous leverage over the entire Middle East and the global economy that it never had before, and a powerful new incentive to acquire a nuclear deterrent. It would also leave the United States with thirteen dead servicemembers, tens of billions of dollars in costs, and a severely depleted stock of missiles and interceptors—to say nothing of vastly diminished status in the world.
Neither committing atrocities nor effectively surrendering to a vastly less militarily powerful country is a good option. But at this point, Trump is no longer the only one who doesn't know what a good path out of the conflict looks like for the United States.
Why does this matter?
- Even by Trump standards, threatening to condemn millions of civilians to suffering and death is psychotic.
- There is no way anyone who can't decide between committing atrocities and giving up entirely is mentally fit to handle their own affairs, much less the presidency.