Dear Editor,
The news these past several days is full of Iran and the threat of war coming, etc. This seems an artificial construct since the Islamic Republic of Iran has been actively waging war on the west in general and on America in particular since that government stormed our embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held Americans hostage for 444 days. The evidence is plain to see: hundreds of American service men and women killed with the bombing of the USS Cole; the Marine Corps. barrack bombing; the Benghazi embassy attack in which the ambassador was murdered; countless rocket attacks on our only Mid-east ally, Israel; attacks on our forces in Syria; and now the deadly attack on our people in Iraq.
The present Iranian government is a criminal enterprise and an indisputably recognized state sponsor of terrorism The President of the United States recognizes this clear truth and the threat to us that it is.
The president does not have the authority to declare war; that’s for the Congress. He does have the constitutional power to respond to war waged against America. He just now did that in authorizing the killing of Iranian arch-terrorist General Soleimani in Baghdad, Iraq. This was right. Unfortunately, most middle east governments have a very different concept of right and wrong from western, enlightened, civilized thinking – especially the Iranians who suffered over 50 people trampled to death at Soleimani’s funeral. What kind of mindset is that? Such things do not happen in the civilized west; they are unthinkable.
The next attack incident on Americans by Iran or its proxies should be met with overwhelming force that will put an end to this regime and free the Iranian people who, incidentally, are mostly under 35 and love things American. Iran remains essentially a small, poor, weak nation; its current criminal government understands and respects only power. I applaud the President of the United States for his leadership in its use to defend American lives and interests. I hope you do too.
God Bless America!
El Sellers
Fairfield, Texas