By The Signal Editorial Board
We should all celebrate America’s successes.
And, as much as people with strong partisan political views will not only hate to admit it, but also flat-out refuse to do so, the past couple of weeks have been marked by notable successes.
Those notable successes came under the leadership, indeed because of the leadership, of President Donald Trump, on the world stage. The highest-profile example is what happened in the Iran-Israel conflict.
Like other presidents before him, including Barack Obama, Trump has pledged that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and that military force would be used if necessary to prevent it. It would not only be a violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, of which Iran is a signatory, but also it would present a clear and present danger to not only the U.S., but also important U.S. allies, most notably Israel.
A few weeks back, Israeli intelligence concluded that, contrary to Iran’s protestations that its nuclear programs are only for peaceful purposes, Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts were closing in on creating weapons-grade material in pursuit of developing nuclear bombs. Considering that Iran’s foreign policy for many years has essentially amounted to, “Death to Israel! Death to America!” it was only logical that Israel would launch military strikes to degrade those efforts.
But there was a hitch: The key infrastructure for Iran’s nuclear weapons development was buried in bunkers, under hundreds of feet of concrete. Only one nation on Planet Earth has munitions capable of piercing such a bunker, and that nation also happens to be the only one possessing a plane capable of carrying such a bomb and delivering it with precision to a target on the opposite side of the globe — all while escaping detection.
Fortunately, that’s us.
Trump, far from being the loose cannon his critics claim he is, kept U.S. forces on the sidelines until … Until.
Until it was the right time, with the right strategy. In an operation that utilized deception — including a very visible decoy flight of B-2 bombers being “relocated” while the actual 37-hour bombing mission was launched surreptitiously, and a submarine launching cruise missiles — the U.S. put to use hundreds of aircraft, multiple mid-air refuelings and the skills of highly trained armed forces, to precisely target Iran’s three nuclear facilities with the aforementioned “bunker buster” bombs.
You can debate the extent of the damage all you want. Left-leaning media outlets were quick to downplay it based on a preliminary low-level assessment that was clearly leaked by someone with political motives to a reporter with political motives.
But here’s what’s telling: Iran, which had previously rejected calls for a ceasefire, suddenly was willing to agree to a ceasefire with Israel and return to the bargaining table.
It was a giant white flag.
Trump’s decisive and measured leadership ended this Iran-Israel war after just 12 days, with one well-planned, well-executed bombing run that was a credit to our armed forces and those who lead them.
Will it bring about lasting peace in the Mideast? Considering the conflicts there are centuries old, it’s hard to say. No region is more volatile and the reasons for that volatility run deep. But make no mistake, the region — and indeed the world — is safer now than it was three weeks ago.
Of course, the mission brought out the expected hypocrisy from Democrat members of Congress who griped that Trump didn’t seek their permission before authorizing the mission. How quickly they forget how much they applauded previous Democrat presidents who did exactly the same thing, in particular Obama, who authorized multiple overseas military missions without running to Congress first for permission.
Both Obama and Trump correctly acted as the commander in chief.
Then and now, we should all celebrate positive outcomes for the United States. When Obama authorized the raid that took out Osama Bin Laden, for example, it was the right thing to do. Just as Trump did the right thing in authorizing Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran.
One more quick example of leadership: At this week’s NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, every NATO nation, save one, agreed to Trump’s call that each NATO nation pursue a goal of spending 5% of gross domestic product on defense. Spain was the lone holdout, and Trump pledged to leverage Spain into paying through trade.
If you have been following Trump at all, you know he’s not blowing smoke. Spain is on notice.
But other than Spain — which has its own inner political turmoil going on — the rest of the 32-nation NATO has lined up under Trump’s leadership to more equitably share the cost of their joint defense agreement.
At the NATO summit, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised Trump for his leadership that brought the member nations to the table.
Much of the media coverage has overlooked the significance of what Trump accomplished and pushed over the finish line at the NATO summit. As Trump has correctly pointed out, each NATO member nation should proportionately contribute to their joint defense agreement. Of course, as the only superpower in the mix, the U.S. can and should be the largest player. But each of the other nations should also contribute a proportionate share, if only in the interest of fairness to the American taxpayers who have been footing the bill.
It took leverage. It took strong negotiation. It took the “art of the deal,” to borrow a Trump book title. But regardless of whether you like Trump’s style, this is clearly a much better and, to use that buzz word that the left seems to love so much, more “equitable” arrangement for the U.S. and NATO.
On the international stage, the U.S. has drawn praise from multiple leaders of nations who acknowledge that current U.S. leadership is making good things happen. It’s recognition that’s becoming exceedingly difficult to draw here at home, because of partisan politics.
These are achievements we should all celebrate as Americans, regardless of party affiliation.
It’s a shame that America, right now at least, seems incapable of that.
