Wars of Choice. Violations of Trust.

In August 1964, the Pentagon reported that North Vietnamese gunboats attacked a U.S. Naval ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to pass a resolution giving him the authority to do what was needed to protect U.S. interests in Vietnam where a civil war was raging between the armed forces of the North and South.

With that authority, over the next ten years, 3.4 million Americans were sent to fight in Vietnam and neighboring Laos and Cambodia. A total of 58,200 were killed and 303,000 were wounded.

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and the Vietnam War

We now know that Johnson, Richard Nixon his successor, and leading civilian and military authorities at the time lied about the original Gulf of Tonkin attack and continued lying through much of war. They exaggerated enemy losses. They described progress that internal intelligence didn’t support and that our most authoritative spokespeople didn’t believe. All to keep U.S. citizens in the dark about the mission and its failures so they could extend the war.

After the war ended, no one in government paid a price for their duplicity and failure. No one went on trial, or went to jail, or faced consequences, legal or otherwise.

U.S. taxpayers were left with a $1.5 trillion bill for the war. Hundreds of thousands of American vets paid a high price in VA hospitals. Many still are.

Twenty-six years later, the scenario was repeated in Iraq.

Wars of Choice and Their Cost to Americans

These were wars of choice. It would be bad enough if these were just colossally poor choices made by leaders misled by faulty intelligence. But they were all that compounded by egregious bad faith with the public that trusted them.

In the years since the end of World War II, the U.S. has experienced 9/11 and other terror attacks less horrific, but no nation has attacked us. All the wars we’ve engaged in post World War II have been wars of choice. Cumulatively, those wars have cost U.S. taxpayers more than $16.5 trillion.

Now we’re at war with Iran.

Thousands will die. Billions will be spent. Revenge bills from the families of the dead and injured are soaring, ultimately to be paid with more death and destruction. Our Constitution is being violated. U.S. and international laws are being shredded.

Why the Iran Conflict Raises New Questions

Why?

Donald Trump has provided no clear answer to that question.

Likely, given his recent history, the answer is oil.

Just weeks ago he made a deal with the autocratic leaders of Venezuela to set up an offshore bank account with part of the proceeds of Venezuelan oil sales, an account Trump now controls. At last report that account has generated more than $1 billion.

Incredible to think that a U.S. president would attack Iran to profit from its rich oil resources? Actually, I find it more incredible to believe he attacked Iran to “free” Iranians. Trump, an avatar for democracy and public empathy? When he’s trashing democracy and planning to steal elections here at home? Saving us from an Iranian nuclear missile attack? When all credible intelligence says otherwise?

No. Since neither Trump nor anyone else in the Trump administration has yet come up with a more credible excuse, I’ll stick with oil. Especially since his chief “negotiators” leading up to the U.S. attack were his son-in-law and his business partner, both of whom are elbow deep in Middle Eastern oil money investments and politics.

If all this sounds cynical, I’m not alone. In the 1960s, before Vietnam, nearly 80% of Americans trusted their national leaders to do the right thing. Now, according to the polls, that trust level is 17%. It’s a crisis of leadership, justly earned in large part through a series of needless forever wars.

Being lied to about costly foreign military adventures isn’t the only reason Americans have lost faith in their leadership, but given the loss of lives, national treasure and prestige over past decades, without accountability, or even apology, it’s surely a significant factor.

At some point history, as it always does, will reveal the truth and we will know why Trump made what appears to be a unilateral decision to attack Iran. And when that happens, perhaps this time he and his enablers will be forced to answer for breaking their trust with Americans to engage in deadly criminality.

Too bad others didn’t pay a price for theirs’ years ago. There’s no excuse for failing to do it now.

Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net

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