On March 2, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed what many suspected, that the United States joined Israel in preemptively attacking Iran because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forced our hand. The flawed logic was that Israel was going to preemptively strike, which would have left U.S. military bases exposed to retaliatory Iranian attacks. So we joined in.

Perhaps a more astute response to Israel would have been that if it were to strike Iran, we would stand down, not aid Israel offensively or defensively, and communicate exactly the same message to the Iranian leadership. This would have protected our allies in the region from retaliatory Iranian attacks and put the onus on Israel to wage war against Iran alone.

Netanyahu has a warrant out for his arrest by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has wanted to attack Iran for many years but needed a compliant United States president to join the fight. He found his accomplice in President Trump.

As evidenced by the heinous slaughter of its own citizens, the brutal Iranian regime needs to go. However, a thriving Iran with a vibrant democracy is not the goal of this attack. The goal is to weaken and fragment the Iranian state, leaving Israel as the dominant force in the region.

Gary Zartarian 
West Bath