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 5 q% c x; z" @
Trump is doing the right thing for the U.S., and we Democrats should judge the war on
* K. h3 }9 o7 {( b7 j$ fthe merits. 6 r& Z& b8 J) q( @
By David Boies ; \! M) w+ T. q9 F
March 12, 2026 1:34 pm ET * L% |. M& p! X& @
' `% b# c/ `3 A5 {1 {. @) lEvery past president since Bill Clinton, Republican and Democrat alike, has declared that : d9 c3 T: k0 |3 \3 l$ }# }0 O
Iran couldn’t be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. Not one acted to prevent it. # c7 b% \2 ]4 \
Every president since Ronald Reagan has condemned Iran’s role in terrorism against
& a; X/ D8 n: t0 lAmerican citizens, interests and allies. Not one acted to stop it. Instead each president 6 U$ @* N, |& G
left his successor with a more dangerous Iran and a more complicated threat to
9 Z3 J: c8 D' J8 S! naddress. $ H7 e* I" v8 i' d8 A
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Last June President Trump undertook a limited military operation designed to interrupt
3 N$ a+ b8 @) Z4 iIran’s development of nuclear weapons and discourage the country from continuing its - W- h. @& w2 \8 r- C
nuclear program. In the face of Iran’s refusal to forswear nuclear weapons and evidence ) h R! H3 r; J
that it was rapidly increasing the number, sophistication and range of its missiles, Mr.
& Q/ j' x/ @0 u/ H0 V& VTrump began the current military campaign. I2 ~( p- N& l- j) h
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If he hadn’t acted, his successor would have been left with an even more dangerous
" v8 x" [* [% d% B- J5 Q s0 Cchoice than his predecessors left him. Three or four years from now, the Iranian missiles
0 V% r' |4 [- z, ?6 Bnow hitting Iran’s neighbors could be hitting Berlin or London, perhaps even New York 6 S9 f6 c* L3 X+ w
or Washington—perhaps with a nuclear device or at least a dirty bomb. ; K- v" X( h9 K* i, R5 |) n
8 d) n" m* V+ x* PNo sensible person wants a war, a president least of all. Wars destroy lives, waste
& I, T2 e2 i( M, e8 {6 \; utreasure and usually are unpopular. But the widespread hostility to this military action . Q7 V3 H- ]% Z7 s
seems untethered to any serious discussion of the merits. What is the alternative?
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Obviously, few are prepared to say it is simply to permit religious madmen who swear 5 _* o9 m2 n5 R2 J0 p8 B
“death to America” and back up their threats with terrorism to secure nuclear weapons ( @$ a: A! |9 S1 a0 M4 n
and the capability to deliver them. The scope and scale of Iran’s response show how
$ D _+ t, J: ?! [' Emuch its military capabilities have progressed, and how dangerous it would have been7 O, U7 n* e, l& g" q
to permit them to increase further. + F2 W, X; L7 r- w1 U
5 f5 |+ K5 U; Y( f) l3 HFor three decades we have tried everything that each president could think of. We’ve
* ^5 h. ^! M1 u2 [' Etried being nice, talking tough, moral suasion, negotiated agreement, economic
0 X1 b" a: B- u% G' ]5 ^sanctions. None worked. The problem is that there is only one language Iran’s leaders & ^1 I+ }7 e+ u" ]2 ~
understand. ) T4 F: l' D/ V6 n
" ?1 c5 l- v! C0 Y3 [I understand some of the hostility to Mr. Trump’s action. The isolationist wing of the
; Q7 w8 b( G) j- N8 CRepublican Party and the pacifist wing of the Democratic Party each are wrapped in the ! t9 K1 K& y4 J; l+ }( @. h
fantasy that we can afford to ignore the capabilities and intentions of enemies because
/ d3 W/ m6 F7 D' W; ?they are thousands of miles away. Two hundred years ago that view was credible. One
0 i _5 y# A8 b o9 D# \hundred years ago it was plausible. Today it takes only one missile carrying a nuclear or 9 b1 Y; I# D4 j3 ]- ?3 ?4 c& o
dirty bomb to get through our defenses, or one such device smuggled into this country, 4 |. i0 F( k" y- C/ _. P& ]) b9 q/ V
to devastate a city.
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I also understand—and deplore—the fringes of both parties that apparently hate Israel 9 F; e! x N7 y* p5 M+ I; F
and Jews so much that they oppose any action to neutralize Israel’s enemies.
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What is harder to understand, and particularly troubling for our country, is opposition # {- z! b8 ^0 w
rooted simply in antipathy toward Mr. Trump himself. We used to say that politics stops
8 i0 ~/ J& }* ~% x1 r+ |" L- [at the water’s edge. That was never completely true; the willingness to bludgeon a
: V$ g; s$ @' ]: r! }president over foreign policy for domestic political gain is as old as Vice
: s% x0 k" c, g/ ?9 G: ]7 IPresident Thomas Jefferson’s attacks on President John Adams. Yet for most of our $ V: L. u; U1 W: d: `
history we have given the president the benefit of the doubt. ' m8 O4 T1 z$ _5 A6 i. f
: l3 T# F! ?) T0 \; fMore important, criticisms have historically been based on policy differences over the - y0 _& Q0 j' k7 m' e. y- i$ j5 ^
military action at hand, not knee-jerk opposition to the president himself. Many 3 m+ Z4 b4 f; ^, G0 y# u7 E
Republicans supported Mr. Clinton’s military actions and President Obama’s surge in 1 m* p8 {5 i3 e* o9 [* q: Q
Afghanistan; many Democrats supported President George W. Bush’s actions in
2 o- o0 S% u* D/ Q. W" LAfghanistan and (at least initially) Iraq. More Republicans than Democrats probably
; p0 M% f4 q, C: esupported President Lyndon B. Johnson’s actions in Vietnam. 6 R7 L0 q5 N5 Y0 S, A+ \9 O" q2 n/ W
/ r! }' l( F' f1 cMore important still, even when we believed a president’s actions were misguided, we
3 N+ i& J4 ]' p2 _almost always wanted him to succeed if possible. Some efforts to curtail what the
' V2 u0 F& Y+ A4 Spresident is doing in Iran seem motivated simply by a desire not to give him a win—( `" g: t: s' f2 s8 w$ x" s1 p$ w
even if it means a loss for America.
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7 R9 b3 M, { g- LWhen North Korea invaded South Korea President Harry S. Truman acted to stop it. It
! s( d$ R- Z) I, F, [was so unpopular that Truman didn’t seek re-election in 1952. Dwight Eisenhower was
4 ^' B2 G, R9 `' ^3 L* C3 Welected on the promise that he would go to Korea and end the war. But while Truman
2 o. w; t, M- f" g* Fwas president, lawmakers on both sides supported Truman, even when he removed the 1 G* E/ p6 Y9 r) j( y/ ]5 e4 t/ q
popular Gen. Douglas MacArthur from his command.
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# ?- L- b/ M3 B, R( H% l/ _Truman’s successful defense of South Korea began a four-decade bipartisan effort to
6 F2 e- p" T. P) j+ Acontain, and ultimately end, communism as a global threat. One wonders what the * X) ~, y8 b/ V; ^* Q. N
result would have been if he faced a country as divided and partisan as today’s.
3 a, C5 X, N2 G- sRepublicans, including Mr. Trump, bear a share of the blame for the divisiveness and
( H2 |) }' z/ E. f* u4 a% \extreme partisanship that has stunted our ability to cooperate and work together. Those $ J, g$ P' S8 u* g( ~5 W. q9 v: D
of us who generally oppose Mr. Trump but who recognize the threat Iran poses need to $ E* D! V: J5 b2 ^
support the military action not because we owe anything to Mr. Trump but because we
# n7 A. b- f$ }3 W* a: u. ^owe it to ourselves, our country and our children.
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$ F- r2 G6 ?, O% C. dIf we opposed the war and succeeded in pressuring Mr. Trump to curtail it before the
/ m5 }. M0 b+ nmission is accomplished, we would have the satisfaction of defeating someone we " G& e* m) C& a* F) E; `+ j* s* _
generally oppose, which might help ourselves politically. But America would be worse 6 z! m+ e* T J, }& H: M& O1 x2 q
for it.
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* j* y# o- X: \( EAmerica’s national security is too important to hold hostage to partisanship. We
3 ^. l, B% m2 u1 XDemocrats need to begin by asking what our position would be, and why, if the action
/ n1 T' @' q% Y% P) F4 q1 Ghad been taken by Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden. I’m not counting on it, but
! D1 {. @; _, p8 g# kmaybe in 2029, when a Democrat is in the White House, our Republican neighbors will
5 m$ t, `0 h& `- ureturn the favor, and judge that president’s efforts to keep our nation safe on the merits
0 l% O5 s6 S' e# r; oand not merely obstruct. * l/ @ U" x: k6 K4 d6 @* s
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If we believe that Iran presents a serious threat, we need to support the president on / Q/ K' q! W, w5 C5 \8 P5 p
this issue. There’s plenty to disagree with him about, and we don’t need to like or # d U' Y# f5 x3 h' C( h% Y! J/ E
admire him. But on Iran we should be on common ground. Not primarily because we 7 j) \* `" t6 y
want to reduce partisanship in foreign affairs—although that is conceivable. Not + S y3 f% U8 V% X/ l
because the voters will reward us for a more measured response—although I hope they 2 `! H5 }& g! p' S
will. But because it is the right thing to do for our country, our children and the
7 C/ T6 |; I5 Z! ?& c7 y0 u: V2 EDemocrat who will succeed Mr. Trump as president. 1 X/ e5 V: h9 ?
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Mr. Boies is a founding partner of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner |
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