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President Donald Trump refuses to declare his Iranian skirmish a war. Now involving even boots on the ground, it’s a “military operation.” But yet he re-branded the Department of Defense as “The Department of War.” We need his dictionary.
His reasoning, it seems, is wanting imperial, completely unencumbered, legislative freedom, bypassing long drawn-out, needed approvals. However, Congress must approve war to prevent a single person — the president — from having the power to, as Abraham Lincoln noted, to involve and impoverish the nation.
Now, news that there’s no timeframe to make a deal and his “Operation Epic Fury” — initially forecasted at four to five weeks — will now last until who knows when. The “Iran Cost Ticker” estimates our cost, thus far, at more than $60 billion, while the Pentagon lowballs the figure to nearly half of that.
Apparently intoxicated and heady with our, seemingly, bottomless purse, our president covets lavishly, a “U.S. Triumphal Arch,” upgrading a Boeing 747-8 to a flying palace, litigation by many names, a protective “Golden Dome” and better ships — topping it off, with this new undefined, undeclared war. It’s a war.
But billions of our hard-earned tax dollars? And without our say? Taxation without representation is tyranny.
Linda E. Pletka
Orono