The war drums are beating again. This time Iran is in John Bolton’s and Trump’s crosshairs, with troops and equipment poised to attack when an opportune time comes to fabricate an attack on “American interests” in the Middle East.

John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser who consistently calls for war against several countries around the globe, is now a cheerleader for war with Iran.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul correctly described Bolton in a New York Times op-ed as “Hell-bent on repeating virtually every foreign policy mistake the U.S. has made in the last five years.” Actually, Bolton’s support for war goes back much further. Millions of people slaughtered during those years include: Vietnam, where napalm and seven million tons of bombs were dropped, destroying millions of acres of farmland. Villages were burned to the ground and residents massacred. Two million Vietnamese people and 58,000 U.S. soldiers killed, and 300,000 wounded, all over an attack on a U.S. warship (that was gathering intelligence) by North Vietnamese gunboats in the gulf of Tonkin.

The top secret Pentagon papers that Daniel Ellsberg turned over to The New York Times, revealed that the attack never occurred! In other words, millions of people died over a lie. It is interesting to note that Bolton still, to this day, approves of that war, but purposely avoided military service in Vietnam.

Again in 2003, George W. Bush under the guise of weapons of mass destruction, ordered the U.N. weapons inspectors out of Iraq “because I’m getting ready to bomb the place.”

Millions of American people knew that the WMDs were a lie, but Congress listened to the warmongers instead of demonstrators that lined the streets of America opposing a war with Iraq.

Before the war started, I thanked Sen. Patty Murray for voting against a proposed war with Iraq.

She replied back with a confusing reply: “Even though I voted against the war, if the war does begin, I will vote for the funding!”

Several weeks ago, I sent Murray a message detailing my concerns about the war talk coming from the White House. She will not reply.

Congressman Kilmer, on the other hand, replied with a long copy of a letter to Trump citing some deep concerns of war with Iran.

Because nearly all members of Congress including Murray, consistently voted for funding the war with Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered, and tens of thousands disappeared into prisons run by the U.S. military,and were sexually abused and subjected to various forms of torture. Their infrastructure, including clean water and sanitation systems were near totally destroyed.

Trump has stated: “The Iraq war was a mistake,” but his national security adviser, John Bolton, and other war hawks around him are clamoring for war with Iran.

So here is the question — given that he thinks the Iraq war was a mistake, will he also come to the conclusion that a war with Iran could be a mistake as well or will the war hawks around him prevail with a convincing rational?

A war with Iran would pale in comparison with Iraq. To prevent unnecessary suffering and death that could run into the millions, the U.S. Congress must be prepared to cut off funds to conduct a war with Iran.

Fred Rakevich

Elma