Midnight Hammer: A “Dazzling Display Of American Power.”
Those are not my words in the headline. They were lifted from a Sunday story in the left-wing British publication “The Economist.”
(And what did our local newspaper say about the strikes? Nothing. The brass at the newspaper in military-heavy Hampton Roads couldn’t be bothered ripping up their front page at 8 p.m. on a Saturday evening to deliver actual news to its readers in their Sunday paper. No worries, they’ll get around to it eventually.)
Back to The Economist: In a think piece on the day after President Trump launched a flawless 26-minute surgical strike nicknamed “Midnight Hammer” on Iran’s key nuclear sites, the publication urged the president to now offer the regime a final, negotiated off-ramp that could spur an era of peace in the MidEast, while praising the precision of the strikes.
Even those on the left, whose hair is on fire over the Saturday night surprise, have to admit that the strikes were breathtakingly successful. Not only did B-2 stealth bombers fly from Missouri to Iran and back without detection. They dropped bomb after bomb on precise nuclear targets and returned without any American casualties.
Perhaps more miraculous, there were no intelligence leaks. That’s because the administration was careful not to alert loose-lipped lefties.
Were Iran’s nuclear facilities completely “obliterated” as the president indicated in a late-night address to the nation? The extent of the damage won’t be known for some time, but certainly set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially.
Here at home, Trump Derangement sufferers with short memories are screaming that the president should be impeached for failing to go to Congress for approval in advance of the strikes. “This is unprecedented,” they cry.
Oh, please. Every president for the past two decades has taken military action without seeking the permission of Congress.
Apparently critics have forgotten that in 2011 their beloved Barack Obama intervened in Libya for eight months without Congressional approval and that Biden took military action against targets in Iraq, Syria and in the Red Sea without permission.
I know, I know. That was different. They were Democrats. Trump’s a Republican.
Fact is, Trump did consult with Speaker Mike Johnson and Marjority Leader John Thune before authorizing the strikes. According to news reports both Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries received calls from the White House prior to the strikes. Schumer picked up. Jeffries did not.
Did Trump go before the Jew haters that seem to dominate the Democrat Party to get approval to work with Israel? The ones who have been marching in the streets with Hamas and Iranian flags? No. Did he try to persuade the isolationists in his own party? No.
While only Congress has the power to declare war, the Trump administration will argue that limited bombing strikes of nuclear facilities was not a declaration of war, but a pre-emptive act to neutralize a hostile nation that has been attacking Americans for 46 years.
Iran has been attacking Americans since our embassy in Tehran was besieged in 1979 and 66 hostages were taken and held for 444 days.
Some of us remember. The list of attacks by Iran and its accomplices on Americans in the ensuing years is long and bloody.
“Death to America” is Iran’s goal and the only way to accomplish that would be with nuclear weapons. With Israel wiping out Iran’s air defenses there has never been a better time to take out Iran’s underground nuclear installations and blowup their dreams of nuclear dominance.
The only way the strikes would work was with the element of surprise, which the Trump team executed masterfully. Going to Congress to beg for approval would have tipped off the Iranian regime, giving them time to move nuclear material.
It’s worth noting that Saturday’s strike was not dreamed up by the Trump administration. The military hardware that was used was designed specifically for use in strikes on nuclear facilities deep in the earth years ago and the Pentagon has had plans to take out Iran’s Fordow facility for a decade.
Intelligence, which none of us are privy to, suggested this was the time to strike.
In launching the bombing raids in Iran, Trump continued to undo the damage done by his two predecessors who showered the Ayatollah with cash and allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium far beyond what is needed for nuclear power. The regime has been playing games with international inspectors and American administrations for decades. Those days are clearly over.
First Trump closed the borders and began hunting down millions of illegal aliens who were allowed into the country by Biden.
Now he’s erasing Iran’s nuclear threat.
This is a big Obama/Biden clean-up job.
There are serious risks, of course. But the risk of Iran becoming a nuclear power are greater.
On Saturday, the president made a bold decision. That’s what leaders do. They don’t play footsie with maniacs and they don’t send them money. They send them the only thing they understand: Bombs.
