Trump is not the first president to circumvent congressional orders. And will most likely not be the last one as well.
But in order to keep the Iran war (“Not really a war…but a US excursion”) bleeding more of your tax dollars, Trump is considering renaming the war with Iran from “Operation Epic Fury” to “Operation Sledgehammer.”
This sounds like Trump is channeling his best Peter Gabriel…circa 1986. *
(*Note: The music video for this song was influential, and is MTV’s most played music video to date.)
And, yes, a technicality like this could allow him to side-step Congress again.
Ironically (or NOT) Iran has clearly withstood the shock and destruction of the opening days and couple weeks of major American and Israeli bombing raids over its cities and airbases.
As a result, Trump belatedly ordered more warships, carriers, and troops into the region after which the blockade of Iranian ports was eventually put in place.
But now, in order to keep the machine rolling, Trump technically needs Congressional approval to have our troops and equipment in place.
Unless, of course he circumvents Congress again.
Circumventing Congressional Orders
And In Case You Missed it… The reported name change appears part of the Trump administration’s effort to navigate around the War Powers Resolution… which is the 1973 law designed to limit executive war powers and reinforce Congress’s constitutional authority to declare war.
The Good, Bad, and Ugly side of this is as follows:
Even though the Pentagon has its assets in place if fighting were to resume, fresh reporting in NY Times and elsewhere indicates that Iran too has re-armed and regrouped.
“U.S. Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities. Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that its military remains far stronger than President Trump has asserted,”NY Times reports.
The report also indicates, “The Trump administration’s public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what U.S. intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors, according to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities.”
Translation:Israel and the US don’t have enough stand-off weapons for another major attack on Iran.
The cupboard is pretty bare.
Iran is fully loaded again – and supported by Russia and China.
It doesn’t make sense unless the goal is to simply destroy the ME and control all other routes and resources in order to keep the Empire from collapse.
In the background you can almost hear Peter Gabriel singing:
We believe Operation Sledgehammer will present a great opportunity for the average investor to double up on certain stocks that will profit immensely from this madness.
