Iraq War Commander: Trump Lost Iran War That Should Never Have Been Waged
By Major General Paul Eaton Photos: Wikimedia Commons Washington, DC – Major General (Ret.) Paul Eaton, senior advisor to VoteVets, and former commander in the Iraq war, released the following statement on developments in the war in Iran: “Donald Trump lost the Iran War — a war that never should have been waged in the first place. “I spent a career leading Americans into harm’s way. The hardest decision in our Republic — whether to send them at all — the Constitution gives to Congress, the body closest to the people who do the dying, so that no one man can spend American lives on his own say-so. “This President spent them anyway. On February 28th, he took us to war with Iran without asking Congress or the American people. And he did it with no plan, no strategy, no achievable objective, no definition of what victory even looked like, and no plan for day two, three, and so on. I have commanded soldiers. I know what that checklist is for, and I know that skipping it gets them killed. “And that is what happened. “Thirteen Americans are dead and over three hundred wounded. Gas crossed four dollars a gallon — a dollar higher than the day before he started. We drained the missiles and interceptors we would need to deter China, stockpiles our own commanders say will take years to rebuild. The Strait of Hormuz, open before this war, was shut for the first time in its history. And the brutal regime in Tehran is stronger today than the day he attacked it. “Now he will sign a memorandum of understanding that, by all appearances, returns us to exactly where we stood before the first shot, except that, depending on who you listen to, Iran may even walk away with concessions just to reopen a strait that had been open all along. While striking a diplomatic nuclear deal with Iran in the next couple of months would be a good thing, the fact of the matter is that we had one that was working incredibly well, before Donald Trump tore it up simply because it had the name “Obama” on it. “So where are we? Thirteen dead. Years of lost readiness. Higher prices in every American home. All to arrive back at the starting line, weaker than when we left it. “When the House voted on a bipartisan basis to rein him in, he called it “meaningless.” That is the truth of this man: he does not want to win the argument over war. He wants no argument at all. And he is not finished. He has already seized the head of state of Venezuela, and he muses openly about Cuba, about Greenland, about Mexico — boasting that “nobody can stop us.” “Well, someone must. That power is on the ballot in November. The most important thing the American people can do is elect a Democratic Congress with the spine to make him ask — and the votes to say no. Not a symbolic resolution he can wave away. One he cannot ignore. “I have had soldiers under me killed during another war that never should have happened, in Iraq. I will not be silent while this President treats troops’ lives as his to spend on endless war. Reining in that power is not a partisan act. It is the oldest American duty there is.”
Black News 
By Major General Paul Eaton
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Washington, DC – Major General (Ret.) Paul Eaton, senior advisor to VoteVets, and former commander in the Iraq war, released the following statement on developments in the war in Iran:
“Donald Trump lost the Iran War — a war that never should have been waged in the first place.
“I spent a career leading Americans into harm’s way. The hardest decision in our Republic — whether to send them at all — the Constitution gives to Congress, the body closest to the people who do the dying, so that no one man can spend American lives on his own say-so.
“This President spent them anyway. On February 28th, he took us to war with Iran without asking Congress or the American people. And he did it with no plan, no strategy, no achievable objective, no definition of what victory even looked like, and no plan for day two, three, and so on. I have commanded soldiers. I know what that checklist is for, and I know that skipping it gets them killed.
“And that is what happened.
“Thirteen Americans are dead and over three hundred wounded. Gas crossed four dollars a gallon — a dollar higher than the day before he started. We drained the missiles and interceptors we would need to deter China, stockpiles our own commanders say will take years to rebuild. The Strait of Hormuz, open before this war, was shut for the first time in its history. And the brutal regime in Tehran is stronger today than the day he attacked it.
“Now he will sign a memorandum of understanding that, by all appearances, returns us to exactly where we stood before the first shot, except that, depending on who you listen to, Iran may even walk away with concessions just to reopen a strait that had been open all along. While striking a diplomatic nuclear deal with Iran in the next couple of months would be a good thing, the fact of the matter is that we had one that was working incredibly well, before Donald Trump tore it up simply because it had the name “Obama” on it.
“So where are we? Thirteen dead. Years of lost readiness. Higher prices in every American home. All to arrive back at the starting line, weaker than when we left it.
“When the House voted on a bipartisan basis to rein him in, he called it “meaningless.” That is the truth of this man: he does not want to win the argument over war. He wants no argument at all. And he is not finished. He has already seized the head of state of Venezuela, and he muses openly about Cuba, about Greenland, about Mexico — boasting that “nobody can stop us.”
“Well, someone must. That power is on the ballot in November. The most important thing the American people can do is elect a Democratic Congress with the spine to make him ask — and the votes to say no. Not a symbolic resolution he can wave away. One he cannot ignore.
“I have had soldiers under me killed during another war that never should have happened, in Iraq. I will not be silent while this President treats troops’ lives as his to spend on endless war. Reining in that power is not a partisan act. It is the oldest American duty there is.”
