A ceasefire between Iran and Israel is great news, but...
The leader who spoke of avoiding war came close to placing his country in one over the past 48 hours. Thankfully, an announced ceasefire between Iran and Israel should allow for diplomacy to finally have a chance to bring some kind of peace.
Saying that, while the American people are safer because of the ceasefire that was announced on Monday night, they could still pay the price for Washington’s aggression against Iran through either terrorism or cyberattacks.
Sadly, the bombings of nuclear facilities in Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz over the weekend again affirmed that the US remains as committed as ever to a war-first mentality; such a strategy will win no new friends in the Middle East or throughout the Global South. And it also confirmed that the the government too often does something that calls into question whether it cares for the global order.
Let’s get the niceties out of the way: Although the US did not officially declare war on Iran, the reckless decision to attack had to be considered an act of war. Whether doing another country’s bidding or believing that some strategic American interest was at stake, the White House acted in a manner that eliminated any pretense that it truly wanted to be an actor seeking peace.
The fallout from that decision to bomb Iran continues.
At least one expert has said that the US likely violated international law in attacking Iran. Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, suggests that an attack on sovereign nations is legal only if it includes authorization from the United Nations Security Council or if it is an act of self-defense, which requires a significantly high burden of proof. Neither condition was met. In fact, there is no evidence the US even alerted the UN in advance of the weekend bombings. And there is definitely no evidence that Iran had recently attacked or had plans to attack the US. Of course, the government has no interest in hearing about the restraint nations put on themselves so that stability reigns over the global system. The US has shown too many times that it is certain that it can do what it wants, when it wants and to whatever nation it wants without sanction.
Related to this, do not expect any kind of admission of mea culpa from the administration. One critic has suggested that the president will never apologize for his decisions “because he is a cynical, clear-eyed political animal who plays to his base’s darkest instincts to stay in power. It’s not that he doesn’t want to apologize; he can’t apologize. He’d be ruined.”
Keep something else in mind: The image of a baseball-cap wearing president with an almost smug look on his face as the attack on Iran unfolded is likely to become the defining image of his second term. Compare those images to those of Barack Obama, as he watched the mission to capture Osama bin Laden.
A final point: Democrats complaining that the president should be impeached because he never briefed Congress before Saturday’s assault are not serving the American people. Such an exercise would generate headlines and allow Democrats to affirm their disdain for the president, but what America needs now is a demonstration that everything is being done to protect American citizens and the men and women in uniform from becoming victims of a conflict that the US should never have become part of.
Let’s be optimistic and say that the ceasefire will hold. That would be great news if it did. But let’s also be realistic and say that the ceasefire will not eliminate the potential for a domestic or international event targeting US citizens.