by dap | Jun 24, 2025 | Fox News
American involvement in the war against Iran remains unclear. On Saturday, President
launched an attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities. On Sunday, he talked about the possible need for regime change there. On Monday, he thanked Iran for their restrained military response, and shortly afterward announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. What will tomorrow bring? I have no idea.
But I do know that the United States must not get involved in a war with Iran. We do not need another unnecessary and costly war. We have had enough of them.
In 1964, the U.S. Congress voted, with little debate, for a Gulf of Tonkin resolution giving President Johnson the authority to escalate American military involvement in Vietnam. As a result, the U.S. expanded its presence in that country and was dragged fully into Vietnam’s civil war.
Eventually, some 2.7 million Americans served in Vietnam, and more than 58,000 died, with over 300,000 wounded.
devastated an entire generation. It also killed millions of Vietnamese and destabilized the region. In Cambodia, that instability gave rise to the Khmer Rouge, who oversaw a genocide that killed between 1.5 and 3 million Cambodians. The war cost U.S. taxpayers many hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Vietnam War was based on a series of lies. Years later, the U.S. government concluded that the supposed attacks that prompted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution did not happen as reported. The so-called “domino theory” – the ideological foundation of the war – was bogus.
This was a war that never should have been fought.
In 2002, as a member of Congress, I can recall vividly how politicians and the media relentlessly beat the drum about the need to go to war against Iraq and its leader,
. Over and over again, we were told that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction, and that if we did not act quickly, nuclear weapons would soon fall on America.
Among those pushing for war in Iraq in 2002 was none other than Israeli Prime Minister
, who testified to Congress that: “There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking…nuclear weapons.” Netanyahu promised: “If you take out Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations.” President George W. Bush similarly said: “Saddam’s regime is seeking a nuclear bomb.” He argued for a preemptive attack, saying: “We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun, which could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
The United States, against my vote in Congress, invaded
and became involved in a brutal sectarian war there that lasted almost a decade. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. The war was based on a lie – a lie that cost us 4,500 young Americans killed, 32,000 wounded, and $3 trillion in taxpayer dollars wasted. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis also died, and the entire region was destabilized for a generation.
War often has awful and unintended consequences. It should only be considered as a last resort.
We should not be at war with Iran.
First, let me state the obvious:
Congress alone has the authority to take this country to war, not the President. Trump, at this point, does not have that authority.
Second, nobody seriously believes that Iran is a military threat to the United States. Just a few months ago, Trump’s own Director of National Intelligence,
, testified to Congress that the American intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” There was no imminent threat justifying a preemptive attack.
Third, Benjamin Netanyahu should not be dictating U.S. foreign and military policy. Trump’s attack on Iran would not have occurred if Israel had not launched an illegal, unprovoked surprise attack on Iran on June 13th, sabotaging U.S. diplomatic efforts to address Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, Israel assassinated the Iranian official overseeing those talks. If the people of
support Netanyahu’s decision to start a war with Iran, that is their business and their war. The United States should not be a part of it.
Fourth, in this moment in history, the United States should not be allied with the Netanyahu government in any military effort. Netanyahu is a war criminal indicted by the International Criminal Court for starving and killing civilians in Gaza. His government is systematically destroying the Palestinian people. Israel has killed over 55,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 130,000 – two-thirds of whom are women and children.
The entire physical infrastructure of Gaza – housing, hospitals, schools, and water systems – has been almost totally destroyed. To this day, Israel continues to prevent the U.N. and other aid groups from delivering desperately-needed humanitarian aid to starving civilians, in violation of U.S. and international law.
Fifth, this war is about more than Israel and Iran. It is about the very concept of international law and preventing a world where every dispute is settled through force. Whatever you think of the brutal and authoritarian Iranian regime, Netanyahu’s surprise attack was a clear violation of international law and the
.
One nation does not have the right to attack another country anytime it wants for any reason. The world appropriately condemned Russia for its unprovoked attack against
. The world appropriately condemned Hamas for their unprovoked terrorist attack against Israel. Israel should be condemned for its unprovoked attack against Iran – and the United States should not be part of that illegal action.
Finally, wars are extremely expensive. At a time when the working class of this country faces major crises in housing, health care, childcare,
, climate, and other areas, we should be investing our resources in improving life for the American people, not wasting money on illegal and unnecessary wars.
Last year alone, the United States provided $22 billion in military aid to Israel. Enough is enough.
It is beyond absurd that we continue to finance Israel’s wars while neglecting the needs of our own people.
by dap | Jun 24, 2025 | Fox News
HANNITY – Fox News host gives his take on how President Donald Trump ‘defanged’ Iran and ‘obliterated’ its nuclear program.
HUGH HEWITT – Trump’s signature quote on Iran cements a decisive success.
MAJOR DIFFERENCE – Trump’s Iran strikes clean up Biden’s mess in one big way.
MIKE POMPEO – Trump’s Iran strikes show world what ‘America First’ foreign policy looks like.
MIDNIGHT HAMMER – ‘Mission accomplished’ but there’s one big red flag.
RAYMOND ARROYO – Fox News contributor discusses musical methods of protest against the Trump administration.
RILEY GAINES – Title IX was meant to protect women, not erase us.
CLASSROOM REVOLUTION – The real crisis behind America’s unrest.
JOHN THUNE – A generational opportunity for strength, prosperity.
CARTOON OF THE DAY –
by dap | Jun 24, 2025 | Fox News
The political and ideological violence that has exploded in
and elsewhere in America over the past weeks has little to do with the issue of illegal immigrants. The goal, rather, was to exploit this issue for the emotion that is needed to grow a crowd into a national mass movement. The aim here has nothing to do with immigration reform but everything to do with the total and unrepentant dismantling of America.
We have been here before. Over and over.
From 2012 to 2020, it was the Black people, especially those in my community, who were mercilessly exploited by the same radicals to advance their causes. We had riots after the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and the granddaddy of them all,
and they were done in the name of social justice.
They screamed “Black Lives Matter!” They made speeches on systemic racism, White privilege, mass incarceration, Black bodies and on. It was pure spectacle.
Yet, this political and ideological violence, especially after Floyd’s death, manifested itself physically in the destruction of my already impoverished neighborhood on the
.
Yet these protests destroyed my already impoverished neighborhood even further. I had to arrange for senior citizens to get rides to pharmacies in the suburbs for their medicine. I organized crews to sweep up the glass from broken windows in the nearby shops. I had food brought in to make sure no one went hungry, since some were afraid to come out of their homes.
Meanwhile, the leaders of those protests raked in so much money. It was like the Niagara Falls of White guilt money. They said all that money would go to Blacks on the ground.
Instead, it went to Black Lives Matter mansions, White liberal women preaching about White fragility, elite Black professors pushing antiracism, non-profits promising us the magic pill of diversity, teachers’ unions promising they will lift the most disadvantaged among us not with hard work but equity and on and on.
Not one single penny came into my neighborhood — not that I ever wanted “Black pain” money. It was the biggest scam I have ever seen in my life.
America has been paying the price ever since. It is stunning for me to watch wealthy American neighborhoods like the ones in the
fight over race and ethnic studies in their schools — again, all done in the name of those in my neighborhood. It simply stuns me that they believe the best way to help us is to remove honors classes and lower standards across the board.
But what good is an uneducated or undereducated mind to America?
Then again, that is the objective of those who commit political and ideological violence in the American streets. Liberalism — not racism — destroyed my neighborhood and created generations of impoverished people who don’t know a life without some sort of dependency on the government. That’s socialism, Marxism, or whatever you want to call it.
What you’re seeing on the streets today in Los Angeles and elsewhere is a continuation of this dismantling of America. They’re not going to stop and that is the truth. We have to look dead in the eye and understand. They’re testing us — our resolve as Americans — and they believe we are weak. That is why they commit street violence with such impunity.
I have taken a stand in my neighborhood to break away from the grip of these anti-Americans. I don’t take my Americanness for granted. Once it is lost, it will be forever. That is why in my prayer at the
I brought up the reality that far too many of us have forgotten how to be Americans.
Have you?
by dap | Jun 24, 2025 | Fox News
The world changed for the better on Saturday night thanks to America’s devastating strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities – a mission so effective that it impelled Iran to sue for peace with Israel within two days. Americans owe a debt of gratitude to the brave servicemen who carried out this operation, and to President
for taking this momentous and necessary decision.
For the past 46 years, America may not have been at war with Iran — but
was certainly at war with America. From assassination plots on American leaders to the proxy forces killing American soldiers in Iraq, Tehran is responsible for the deaths of well over a thousand Americans. The destruction of the Great Satan (America) and the Little Satan (Israel) is embedded in the DNA of this regime, which remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Allowing this evil dictatorship to acquire a nuclear weapon would have been a grave dereliction of duty.
President Trump has been clear that he would not permit the Islamic Republic to acquire nuclear weapons. Yet presidents often make such promises and fail to deliver – think of President Obama’s “red line” in Syria, or President
toothless warnings to Russia prior to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
By following through on his vow, President Trump communicated to Iran – and to the world – that America means business. President Trump gave the Iranian regime every opportunity to negotiate, but would not fall for the regime’s tactic of spinning out talks in perpetuity while racing toward nuclear breakout.
These strikes embodied the “America First” vision of foreign policy that we pursued during my time as Secretary of State in the first Trump administration. We threw out the
and shifted our policy from appeasement to maximum pressure – imposing real costs for Iran’s bad behavior. When Iranian proxies killed American servicemen, we retaliated by taking out Quds Force Commander
.
Standing up to the regime checked their ability to project power in the region, and enabled us to forge the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and several Muslim countries. And while they can’t yet say it publicly, I have no doubt that our Gulf Arab allies are thanking us today.
Iran’s authoritarian allies in Beijing and Moscow should take note. The fact that neither
nor Vladimir Putin came to Iran’s aid tells us everything we need to know about the strength of that allegedly enduring security and diplomatic partnership.
Russia and China stand to lose significantly from a weakened Iran: Iran’s ability to provide military hardware to Russia for its war on Ukraine is now compromised, and a key source of pressure on U.S. interests in the region is on the back foot.
Of course, none of these achievements are without risk, as we saw with Monday’s attacks on U.S. military personnel in the
, which were thankfully intercepted. Iran is not known for keeping its word, and has a long history of using terrorist cells and proxy forces to work their will, and America and our allies must be alert to this danger. However, President Trump has made it perfectly clear that the days of Iran holding a sword above our heads are over, and the United States will unleash hell if any American is harmed in the coming days.
It’s also important to note that there is still work to be done to make sure that Iran’s nuclear program is fully dismantled. The American and Israeli intelligence services will need to figure out what materials the regime was able to disperse in advance of these strikes. But there can be no doubt that their capabilities have been enormously diminished – and that is thanks to the United States and Israel.
The critics on the left and right who warned we were embarking on a “forever war” once again missed the mark completely. What President Donald Trump initiated was a limited mission to end the forever war that the Iranian regime has been waging against the American people and our allies for decades. And while
is always a calculated risk, inaction given the condition of the Iranian nuclear program posed a far greater threat to American security. If there was ever a time to act to end the unacceptable threat of a nuclear Iran, it was now.
The end of this story is not yet written, but one thing is certain: Saturday night’s strikes were a triumph of decisive leadership that will go a long way toward making
of “peace through strength” a reality.
America’s enemies must know that we want peace, but are fully prepared to take decisive military action should the situation require it. We’ve now made that plain – and America is safer today as a result.
by dap | Jun 24, 2025 | Fox News
There are a handful of phrases from national security crises of the past 50 years that stand out.
has now added his signature line to that list.
On May 22, 1977 President Carter declared to the graduates of Notre Dame University that “we are now free of that inordinate fear of communism which once led us to embrace any dictator who joined us in that fear.”
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood near the Brandenburg Gate and declared: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
“This will not stand,” President George H.W. Bush said on August 5, 1990 of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait three days earlier.
“I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon,” declared President George W. Bush declared on September 14 from amid the rubble where the World Trade Centers had fallen on 9/11.
Then Senator Barack Obama in Berlin on July 22, 2008: “I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen — a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.”
Another comes from President Obama on August 20, 2012: “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”
President Biden’s entry comes from his first year in office, on July 8, 2021: “There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy in the—of the United States from Afghanistan.”
Now President Trump has his quote:
“They should have done the deal.”
That’s what President Trump told reporters on Air Force One on June 17, 2025.
The president has repeated that phrase in the last week almost as much as he said “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” in the years before the actual American strikes on at least three sites in Iran’s nuclear weapons chain-of-production.
Note that the list doesn’t include anything positive from Presidents Carter, Obama and Biden. Rather, they are remembered already and will be forever as failures on the world stage and as failures as Commanders-in-Chief of the greatest military in the history of the world. The single significant achievement of 16 years of Democrat presidential governance that covers the Carter, Obama, and Biden years was the Camp David Accords over which President Carter presided, but those breakthrough agreements rest on the shoulders of Menacham Begin and Anwar Sadat.
President Clinton presided over America’s “holiday from history” after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and thus over the “peace dividend,” the hollowing out of our military, the failure to take out Osama bin Laden when it was possible, and the breakout to nuclear power status of North Korea (in which then former President Carter also had a hand.) But President Clinton doesn’t have an entry in the notable presidential quotations about national security.
Clinton boosters might point to Operation Allied Force, was a NATO military operation conducted from March 24 to June 10, 1999, during the Kosovo War, but few people are going to hold that up as a memorable moment, much less President Obama’s “leading from behind” strategy in the air strikes he ordered on Libya in March of 2011 or the subsequent developments there.
If we focus on just this century, the Obama-Biden record of 12 years in office is a record of national security malpractice unrivaled by any other 12 years, including the eight years which span the Kennedy-Johnson initiation and escalation of the Vietnam War and Carter’s four awful years.
President Trump’s long-standing policy towards, and now attack on Iran seems likely to me to be going into the column of decisive successes of the employment of American political force. Indeed it may end up completing the mission of Operation Iraqi Freedom launched by President George W. Bush as a neutered Iran could well spell long-lasting stability for an Iraq free of the malign machinations of the mullahs.
“Trump has always been committed to addressing the weaknessess of the JCPOA, either by strengthening it or undoing it,” Omri Ceran posted on X Sunday. Ceran is the national security advisor for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and one of Beltway’s leading authorities on the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Iran keep[ing] Fordow open was one of the foundational weaknesses.”
“In 2017, [Trump] tried to negotiate a stronger deal but couldn’t find partners, so he withdrew and imposed maximum pressure,” Ceran continued:
President Trump already looked to cement a large part of the true, central narrative of American history for having won the biggest upset in presidential campaign annals in 2016 and then the greatest comeback in American political history in 2024.
President Trump has now indelibly impacted America’s national security in the same, deep, impossible-to-miss way as he did American Constitutional law with three Supreme Court appointments in his first term and in American public health history with Operation Warp Speed which Trump created to discover the vaccine for Covid, an unprecedented success for the U.S. and the world.
Even if Trump had not returned to the Oval Office in 2025, the Abraham Accords from his first term would have matched any diplomatic achievement of the post World War II era.
Now, though, there is a “Trump Doctrine” and it cannot be missed: An American president can and should use overwhelming military force to prevent rogue states from producing nuclear weapons.
The corollary to the Trump Doctrine is also clear: “Regime change” need not be a focus of the use of overwhelming American military might. The Trump Doctrine repudiates the “Powell Doctrine” of “So if you break it, you own it.”
That “break/own” formula need not dictate American national security policy. The United States military can be tasked with destroying nuclear weapons production facilities and not buy a reconstruction plan or an open-ended effort to overthrow a regime. The Trump Doctrine proves again that American military force can be applied surgically.
The devastation of Iran’s nuclear weapons production facilities has changed not just American history but quite obviously world history too.
