There are a whole lotta questions rattling around my head as I watch Tzofar alerts on my phone. I may be in the States, but my heart is nowhere near Minnesota. But that’s to be expected. I will go on record as saying I am not gung-ho about the operation. I have way too may questions and not nearly enough answers to satisfy the practicalist in me. I feel like I’ve been this movie before…but the location has changed: Syria, Afghanistan, Gaza, and now Iran. I watched the optimism of the Arab Spring collapse under the weight of unrealized expectations and unprepared leadership. Is this the fate waiting for Iran?

Meanwhile, join me in looking at four of the questions that currently plague me. Humor me…and follow along. There is a method to the mad.

Question #1: Is this attack even legal?  Without consulting Congress, this administration attacked yet another country. Board of Peace, my ass, He doesn’t give a damn about the Constitution or the role of Congressional governance/oversight as continually made clear with each new attack. And what’s possibly worse, is that when the president gets bored he turns his back on the victims of his machinations. Just ask Ukraine how he’s working out for them. All hat, no cattle, as the saying goes. He’s abandoned Ukraine, just like he ultimately signed the death warrant for Afghanistan. He signed off on the plan, then walked away, leaving the Biden Administration to try to sort out and clean up the mess.

The president already describes this action as a “war” in his announcement to We, the People, on Saturday:

The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission. Yet, this is an undeclared “war” which is forbidden by the Constitution as it explicitly states only Congress can declare war. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11: [The Congress shall have Power…] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; . . .

The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission. Yet, this is an undeclared “war” which is forbidden by the Constitution as it explicitly states only Congress can declare war. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11: [The Congress shall have Power…] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; . . .

In other words, this is yet another case of the president exercising power that are specifically NOT granted to a sitting president.

Former Federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice,  Ankush Kardori wrote in Politico:

The Trump administration’s war also cannot be squared with the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows the president to initiate hostilities abroad “only” when there has been “(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” Trump did not even attempt to argue that any of these conditions had been met, probably because he could not seriously do so.As for international law, the attack on Iran goes much further than the Trump administration’s military campaign to oust and arrest Maduro, which itself ran afoul of multiple domestic and international legal prohibitions,

The Trump administration’s war also cannot be squared with the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows the president to initiate hostilities abroad “only” when there has been “(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” Trump did not even attempt to argue that any of these conditions had been met, probably because he could not seriously do so.As for international law, the attack on Iran goes much further than the Trump administration’s military campaign to oust and arrest Maduro, which itself ran afoul of multiple domestic and international legal prohibitions,

  In other words, the short answer is “NO,” this is not legal on any level…but we already know he doesn’t care.

Question #2: Does anyone really have a plan for what happens next? While there is no question about the need for regime change in Iran, and the removal of the mullahs as rulers, there is also a long history of what happens when the US takes a sitting government down. One needs only look at the long term chaos in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. and most recently Gaza to understand that if no plan for what happens next is in place, these places are unable to suddenly produce a functional government to lead. Same thing with the Arab Spring. Lots of slogans but not a leader in sight to unify any of the toppled governments…and now, it’s  back to business as usual. Economies pretty much collapsed in the wake of these optimistic revolutions. And Gaza? President Felon is too busy lining his own pockets to pay attention to the spiraling of Gaza.

Back in the 80s when Iran fell the first time, the underlying reason why that revolution actually succeeded was because there was already a shadow government in Paris ready to go. That was the one that gave Iran the first ayatollah, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini. These guys had a plan and they executed it almost flawlessly. Does Pahlavi and his friends have a government in exile ready to step into the breach? If they don’t, the current dead ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, was known to be in ill health and it’s believed his succession had already been laid out. You can bet if that’s the case, it’s already moving forward to consolidate their position as the legitimate rulers of Iran.

Former Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi appeared on 60 Minutes to talk about how he wants to lead the transition to democracy, saying he did not want to be king or president or prime minister…but rather the guy who shepherds them into a functioning government. Very well spoken, but does he have a shadow government in place waiting to step in? That wasn’t clear. If the voice of the Iranian Diaspora is any indication, he can, with their backing, begin the long process of going home which, if you listen closely, is what they want. Just like the Jewish Diaspora, they long to return to their home, and gee, I don’t blame them one bit.

Question #3: Why now? Why at just this moment? Anyone remember the movie WAG THE DOG with Dustin Hoffman? Rathert succinctly summarized: a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal. Sound familiar?

It’s no secret that the president has not been totally exonerated in the Epstein files. Yes, I know he keeps saying that, but that’s part of the fantasy he’s spewing. The newest allegations are seriously horrifying should they turn out to have been intentionally removed from the files. An investigation run by NPR (National Public Radio) reported:

The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appear to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, as well as notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.NPR reviewed multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January. NPR’s investigation found dozens of pages that appear to be catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly.

The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appear to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, as well as notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.NPR reviewed multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January. NPR’s investigation found dozens of pages that appear to be catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly.

But there is so much more to this timing that any Jewish kid can tell you about: PURIM.

Last night, Purim began at sundown. We gathered to read the Megillah. Every time Haman’s name was drowned out with graggers, boos, and hisses.  We will sing and dance and have purimspiels to tell the story of how Queen Esther saved us, and then the Jews rose up to fight off the Persians that didn’t get the stop order.

Here’s the thing: there is a real relationship between Israel and Persia that goes back a thousand years. Jewish communities in Persia/Iran thrived…until the ayatollahs took over. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Iranian Diaspora turned to Israel for help.

But did they get the help they needed from the US….or were they played to wag the dog? Are they providing yet more smoke and mirrors to hide a sexual predator from prosecution as he wages an illegal war to distract We, the People?

And the last question: Question #4: Will Israel be blamed for it all? Funny, all those pro-Gaza people shouting to free Palestine are now decrying the bombing of Iran. Don’t they realize that Iran is the moneyman for Hamas and the terrorists? Where were their voices as thousands of Iranians were being slaughtered by their government? Why were they silent to those pleas for help?  Oh. There were no Jews involved.

Well, now there are. I do worry about not just the timing, but the preparedness of the Iranians to take back their country. We can only hope there really is a government in exile waiting in the wings to step up.

The usual suspects already are insisting Netanyahu conned the president into attacking Iran, especially at this time of year. They already claim the US is being used as a proxy by Israel…and Saudi Arabia. They will espouse the ol’ Jewish Cabal theory of world domination.

If you are asking my opinion here, I will tell you that I truly believe Khamenei had to go, that Iran needed to be free. But I am not convinced that the actions of this president and his war partners are warranted without the backing on Congress and adherence to the law of the United States. If anyone is using the US as a proxy, look to the Saudis. They have the most to gain.

This war will not be fast and today, it is proving far more deadly than this administration anticipated. It’s gonna be long and it’s gonna be ugly.

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)