TA的每日心情 | 擦汗 2026-3-17 22:01 |
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发表于 2026-3-16 12:04:37
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Partisanship on Iran Is Dangerous for America
& P1 L: i5 H* u/ xTrump is doing the right thing for the U.S., and we Democrats should judge the war on
- `# V( c W) U0 H* z* c/ Lthe merits. 9 E9 q! w7 L0 S3 `0 |
By David Boies - h& O% p& E/ g. v, x/ w2 S
March 12, 2026 1:34 pm ET
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& U/ J4 @& G, i7 I) [4 sEvery past president since Bill Clinton, Republican and Democrat alike, has declared that # x5 ~. T! q9 t, u; Q; r
Iran couldn’t be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. Not one acted to prevent it. 3 C" ?/ Z, L9 P# b. S/ t
Every president since Ronald Reagan has condemned Iran’s role in terrorism against 6 J/ n; f' D. U$ ~1 Z
American citizens, interests and allies. Not one acted to stop it. Instead each president
$ Q% ^4 ^/ x; J3 r% u; Fleft his successor with a more dangerous Iran and a more complicated threat to : P! k4 X* k$ ^7 Z2 I
address.
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Last June President Trump undertook a limited military operation designed to interrupt
2 l$ j9 b9 i0 i% A y+ I$ bIran’s development of nuclear weapons and discourage the country from continuing its
" Q5 }4 Z. o( s inuclear program. In the face of Iran’s refusal to forswear nuclear weapons and evidence
3 n; V9 Y# |6 Z3 c6 F7 n* K N1 pthat it was rapidly increasing the number, sophistication and range of its missiles, Mr. - s: p3 C5 N8 x$ J
Trump began the current military campaign.
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: b Y) n: z" V5 F7 V" D" MIf he hadn’t acted, his successor would have been left with an even more dangerous
7 f& \. \* m. _2 `/ e4 cchoice than his predecessors left him. Three or four years from now, the Iranian missiles
# F& N; J' j/ f8 R: i+ vnow hitting Iran’s neighbors could be hitting Berlin or London, perhaps even New York / H- I. K, [3 R; R6 J
or Washington—perhaps with a nuclear device or at least a dirty bomb.
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& M7 S. b5 ~! q. dNo sensible person wants a war, a president least of all. Wars destroy lives, waste
6 A/ E) h" u0 v, Wtreasure and usually are unpopular. But the widespread hostility to this military action
; H/ a% o h4 |. z9 X& ~seems untethered to any serious discussion of the merits. What is the alternative?
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; w" y+ \% C6 n' y0 y9 \Obviously, few are prepared to say it is simply to permit religious madmen who swear 8 B( n& a5 L: W4 C: F" o# i8 i
“death to America” and back up their threats with terrorism to secure nuclear weapons
: O5 @. N+ V* ^# x) ?+ Yand the capability to deliver them. The scope and scale of Iran’s response show how 8 I0 p* [) ]! m( M
much its military capabilities have progressed, and how dangerous it would have been x1 P% w8 }! ?# u9 Z, c$ d
to permit them to increase further.
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@4 C, r& ^; W! _! Q( HFor three decades we have tried everything that each president could think of. We’ve
6 d$ H# b& ]8 C' ^( v) N- O( Ttried being nice, talking tough, moral suasion, negotiated agreement, economic
4 @0 j' C4 w, I4 q, E: Fsanctions. None worked. The problem is that there is only one language Iran’s leaders
# [6 z' O3 O8 @understand.
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- o. ^0 i2 N5 u6 EI understand some of the hostility to Mr. Trump’s action. The isolationist wing of the
6 G5 d' t! c6 t, ]" ~0 J' w3 v& R2 XRepublican Party and the pacifist wing of the Democratic Party each are wrapped in the
) o' g/ y, e; e) h+ F4 b! c" jfantasy that we can afford to ignore the capabilities and intentions of enemies because
& n( L6 Z6 l% @- athey are thousands of miles away. Two hundred years ago that view was credible. One ' K0 Y8 p% _; i* F3 Q! G
hundred years ago it was plausible. Today it takes only one missile carrying a nuclear or % C+ p3 Y0 V6 ?( {1 M+ @4 d
dirty bomb to get through our defenses, or one such device smuggled into this country, 5 L5 [0 A4 ]. ~& H) F
to devastate a city.
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I also understand—and deplore—the fringes of both parties that apparently hate Israel : A9 l5 v$ ^9 M/ H5 k p
and Jews so much that they oppose any action to neutralize Israel’s enemies.
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3 d6 h. Z+ l/ u9 M6 X FWhat is harder to understand, and particularly troubling for our country, is opposition
% v+ X d8 k* T, S! H) hrooted simply in antipathy toward Mr. Trump himself. We used to say that politics stops 2 W; M3 U! e9 L4 u) ]3 D* d) W3 I
at the water’s edge. That was never completely true; the willingness to bludgeon a , o: I& @+ T( ^: a: g
president over foreign policy for domestic political gain is as old as Vice
# W3 o* Z$ ~# V2 w; h8 GPresident Thomas Jefferson’s attacks on President John Adams. Yet for most of our % K5 g9 }3 h' L# U" p2 j
history we have given the president the benefit of the doubt.
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g3 o* U2 M0 C, F# |! f7 TMore important, criticisms have historically been based on policy differences over the : P* Y+ K; D1 H) j$ f8 z6 q/ J
military action at hand, not knee-jerk opposition to the president himself. Many
. B& }/ I1 O" k! D4 URepublicans supported Mr. Clinton’s military actions and President Obama’s surge in
/ |. v9 S, G' W# i9 X* LAfghanistan; many Democrats supported President George W. Bush’s actions in + ^5 E) W j1 m
Afghanistan and (at least initially) Iraq. More Republicans than Democrats probably . m% o3 l2 j( K5 Q! ]6 r
supported President Lyndon B. Johnson’s actions in Vietnam.
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More important still, even when we believed a president’s actions were misguided, we / Z* \# @( G+ k7 D/ h/ p
almost always wanted him to succeed if possible. Some efforts to curtail what the 9 a# E- M4 m# u, \: f% q6 L
president is doing in Iran seem motivated simply by a desire not to give him a win—& n, j1 L: ~8 }6 C7 M
even if it means a loss for America. + P7 a I! N' G8 V, P- f Y- R I
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When North Korea invaded South Korea President Harry S. Truman acted to stop it. It
: n: z* c, B1 R1 G$ F3 x3 Swas so unpopular that Truman didn’t seek re-election in 1952. Dwight Eisenhower was
& I% S K3 t) m6 O- {* Welected on the promise that he would go to Korea and end the war. But while Truman / `/ C5 W( a( s
was president, lawmakers on both sides supported Truman, even when he removed the
# v. ^# r! ^, ~6 vpopular Gen. Douglas MacArthur from his command.
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0 S5 S8 Q# I' U$ y7 C- }Truman’s successful defense of South Korea began a four-decade bipartisan effort to
) x2 m$ @' L8 o& {1 R6 \. x* Y; U4 K$ Tcontain, and ultimately end, communism as a global threat. One wonders what the , l# T7 c- r" [+ B/ @& b: v
result would have been if he faced a country as divided and partisan as today’s.
% H- p6 v8 I) V0 `7 mRepublicans, including Mr. Trump, bear a share of the blame for the divisiveness and
) Q, X# J& W5 z W; V+ L4 kextreme partisanship that has stunted our ability to cooperate and work together. Those
; l; Q! ]2 F4 ^& W Tof us who generally oppose Mr. Trump but who recognize the threat Iran poses need to
, q) c4 j2 H0 [* l1 j0 `# ssupport the military action not because we owe anything to Mr. Trump but because we J6 c3 N* a$ n
owe it to ourselves, our country and our children. ! `* ^4 I5 t. O
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If we opposed the war and succeeded in pressuring Mr. Trump to curtail it before the
( W8 e3 j+ h1 h$ L: ?3 {mission is accomplished, we would have the satisfaction of defeating someone we
" F* r, B' d- Q( i+ cgenerally oppose, which might help ourselves politically. But America would be worse
/ @& |4 ^9 P0 h- G0 n+ a; k5 Yfor it. 3 t! w. w- I8 O) |9 k
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America’s national security is too important to hold hostage to partisanship. We $ r- y: O3 G, t
Democrats need to begin by asking what our position would be, and why, if the action 0 g( z( q. J( }3 H7 @
had been taken by Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden. I’m not counting on it, but : j2 u, L i' y
maybe in 2029, when a Democrat is in the White House, our Republican neighbors will
4 A' K; P5 @6 W2 t2 b# z) treturn the favor, and judge that president’s efforts to keep our nation safe on the merits
" e! d: P- Q0 Q3 l/ n. S, P) Rand not merely obstruct. * j2 T- E0 v$ {+ F4 s. ?" ?
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If we believe that Iran presents a serious threat, we need to support the president on
1 S( Q2 v* o( u6 rthis issue. There’s plenty to disagree with him about, and we don’t need to like or
: o. I5 E. ^1 j% C [ Oadmire him. But on Iran we should be on common ground. Not primarily because we
k/ |. `4 v" n# n; E" J2 j i! B4 bwant to reduce partisanship in foreign affairs—although that is conceivable. Not : i G; j8 ?, `- m8 M! c: [
because the voters will reward us for a more measured response—although I hope they 2 A+ @2 w* I$ U4 t- D1 s1 B: i
will. But because it is the right thing to do for our country, our children and the " D; R9 V' y) O" v, F, u; ]
Democrat who will succeed Mr. Trump as president. : U. i+ J5 {' h) w
; f; R* _8 D; {- {- cMr. Boies is a founding partner of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner |
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