The same candidate who portrayed himself as the supposed “peace” candidate when he said we’ve been in too many conflicts in the Middle East and too many wars is now sending troops to Syria. He has expanded the CIA’s power, authorizing drone strikes in Syria and beyond. According to news accounts, he is dissolving certain protections on combat drone use that the Obama administration had used; since 2004, there have been approximately 2,179 confirmed minimum drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, killing up to 8,897 people according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. These strikes kill innocent civilians and medical rescue personnel, in the hope of assassinating targeted terrorists, on suspicion only.
There have been many experts who have reported that these drone strikes are nothing more than recruitment tools for more terrorists/jihadists against the U.S. This policy has caused tremendous suffering and blowback. And, so, now President Trump decides he’s going to lower the bar “for reasonable civilian loss.”
Not even in office for 100 days, and he has erred in carrying out the Yemen drone strike which was planned by the Obama administration; he could have studied the situation further in Yemen, where America has aided and abetted the Saudis war there. But, he implemented that strike, killing an American soldier in the process and many innocent civilians, including women and children. Now, he is further empowering the CIA to execute more horrific acts of murder.
Posing as a candidate saying one thing, and now continuing America’s policies of interventionism everywhere again, does not hold out much hope for a peacetime presidency. Instead, he wants to increase the military budget, which only serves to assist the military industrial complex’s profits and promotes more wars. The administration’s latest actions are deeply disappointing in light of his campaign speeches.
He has surrounded himself with corporatists and financial elites. His inner circle appears to be too influenced by the neoconservatives who are war hawks. It’s time for Trump to rely on foreign policy experts who understand diplomacy and non-interventionism, rather than going down the path he is currently charting. It’s time to re-examine Mr. Trump’s campaign words versus his presidential actions.
Hopefully, the American people will educate themselves on these issues and be emboldened enough to oppose a foreign policy that goes in the same direction as his Republican and Democrat predecessors, which have caused disasters globally.
Deborah K. Smarth
PUBLISHED IN USA TODAY https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/opinion/letters/2017/03/15/trump-pursuing-foreign-involvement/99196330/