Sen. Jeff Merkley publicly mocks Liz Cheney for warmongering against Iran
The drums of war are once again beating in Washington in the wake of a drone and missile attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Iran has been accused of carrying out the attack, which means all of the familiar bloodthirsty Republicans are once again calling for everything from a bombing campaign on the Islamic Republic to a full-scale invasion. Key figures in the GOP—many of them deeply beholden to weapon manufacturers and oil companies—have been pushing for an Iran War for years and think they finally have their casus belli with this latest incident.
Hopefully, it goes without saying for most readers that a war with Iran would be a monumental, historic mistake, one which could dwarf the Iraq War in blood and treasure expended. All it could realistically hope to achieve is further destabilization of the Middle East and the unleashing of another cyclone of violence and innocent deaths. Iranian aggression, if that’s indeed what we recently witnessed, must be forcefully responded to yes, but there are a whole host of economic and diplomatic options on the table that would be far wiser to pursue than military action.
While Trump has been sending typically mixed messages about what he intends to do in regards to Iran, other conservatives are going all in. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), daughter of one of the chief architects of the disastrous Iraq War, wants the United States to carry out “proportional military” strikes against Iran.
“Not acting sends a message, frankly, that’s likely to encourage an additional escalation by the Iranians if they feel they can take this kind of action without a response. So I’m pleased to see that we’ve begun to see some of that response,” Cheney said, according to The Hill.
“I also think that a proportional military response is the right way to go, and I’m hopeful that Secretary Pompeo is coordinating in that regard with the Saudis,” she went on.
Clearly, the Cheney family did not learn its lesson from the failed wars of the Bush-era and is eager to repeat the same bloodsoaked blunder in Iran.
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) quickly took Cheney to task on Twitter, slamming the idea of “a Cheney suggesting military strikes in the Middle East.” He correctly pointed out that an attack on Iran could easily drag the United States into a “complex and decades long war without a clear objective.”
“Did I hit my head and go back in time?” Merkley joked, clearly referring to Vice President Dick Cheney and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For the sake of America, Iran, and the world at large let’s hope that cooler heads like Merkley win out over the warmongers like Liz Cheney. Anything else could mean the pointless deaths of countless people.
A Cheney suggesting military strikes in the Middle East that could launch America into a complex and decades long war without a clear objective? Did I hit my head and go back in time? https://t.co/IarXCBKtCU
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) September 18, 2019
