OPINION:
“Iran’s appetite for acquiring and developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them has only grown larger,” President Clinton remarked in 1995. “It would be wrong to do nothing as Iran continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
“For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” President George W. Bush reiterated at a press conference in 2006.
“I have stated that Iran will never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon,” President Obama said in 2015 while announcing his nuclear deal with Iran. He said the U.S. would enforce the agreement with military options if necessary.
“We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” President Biden said in 2022 as he signed a pledge with Israel to deny Iran nuclear arms. He said he was open to using the U.S. military as a “last resort” if Iran defied the agreement.
Despite these promises, treaties, pledges and plans by U.S. presidents, the International Atomic Energy Agency assessed this year that Iran had more than 880 pounds of 60% enriched uranium 235, enough for about 10 nuclear bombs that could be constructed within weeks, if not days.
“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” President Trump announced Saturday after the U.S. struck three nuclear sites in Iran without any U.S. boots on the ground or lives lost, in a precise, quick and skillful military action.
Now, despite decades of U.S. resolve to stop Iran’s nuclear program, Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media are downright appalled at Mr. Trump’s strike. They have called for his impeachment, undermined U.S. intelligence and maintained with a straight face that the world was safer under Mr. Biden’s leadership.
“Say what you want about Joe Biden, Joe Biden didn’t start any wars,” Rep. Adam Smith, Washington Democrat and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said on MSNBC on Sunday. “He got us out of the one war that we were in [in Afghanistan]. Trump has now started a war with Iran.”
Let’s recall that Mr. Biden’s botched and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was one of the many stains on his legacy, leading to the suicide bombing of 13 U.S. service members at the Kabul airport.
Let’s also not forget that it was on Mr. Biden’s watch that Russia invaded Ukraine. Mr. Biden slow-walked arms and suggested that Russia would face minimal U.S. pushback if it restrained itself to a “minor incursion” into Ukraine.
Liberal acolyte Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, said Mr. Trump should be impeached for launching a military strike on Iran without congressional authorization.
“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,” AOC wrote on social media Saturday night, minutes after the president announced the successful strike. Mr. Trump “has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Not to be outdone, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, chimed in on X: “Tonight, the President ignored the Constitution by unilaterally engaging our military without Congressional authority.”
Funny how Mrs. Pelosi defended Mr. Obama’s unilateral strike on Libya in 2011, citing United Nations approval and humanitarian goals. In addition to Libya, Mr. Obama attacked Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen during his tenure without prior congressional approval, and not once did Democrats or Republicans call for his impeachment.
Congress has not declared war since 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. Despite debate over which branch of government has war powers authority, Congress largely ceded this responsibility during the global war on terrorism.
One week after 9/11, Congress authorized the president to strike back at any country, group or person involved with the attacks “to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States.”
In 2021, Mr. Biden claimed he had the power to order U.S. “defensive” airstrikes against groups in Iraq and Syria under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter and Article II of the Constitution, which designates the president as commander in chief of the armed forces.
Understanding these executive carve-outs, CBS’s Margaret Brennan attempted to undermine Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” by questioning U.S. intelligence that for decades has shown Iran’s quest for a nuclear bomb.
“[Iran has] everything they need for a nuclear weapon. … They have the delivery mechanisms, they have the enrichment capability, they have highly enriched uranium that is stored. … That’s all we need to see, especially in the hands of a regime that’s already involved in terrorism and proxies. … They are the source of all of the instability in the Middle East,” Mr. Rubio responded.
Ms. Brennan argued that intervention wasn’t warranted because the U.S. had no intelligence that Iran had begun assembling bombs and authorized their use. She reasoned that the U.S. needed to wait for Iran to strike the match and ignite the fuse, and only then should it react. The problem with that logic is that by then it would be too late.
Now, Democrats are almost cheering for Iran’s success.
“History suggests that you’d better be well aware of the fact that the best-case scenario almost never happens,” Rep. James Himes, Connecticut Democrat and the ranking member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“The worst-case scenario is that the Iranians have a lot more missiles than we think they do and we end up with dead soldiers and sailors in the region,” he fantasized.
Nothing like rooting against America, her troops, her strength and her resolve — all because Democrats detest our commander in chief delivering on a decades-old promise.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
