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The Screaming Moderate

Bombing Iran: Good, bad? Discuss

6/25/2025

1 Comment

 
Bombing Iran’s nuclear sites – good or bad? Discuss.

From one perspective, the bombings by Trump may change the politics of the Middle East. Personally, I doubt it but that’s based on nothing ever having changed the Middle East before or the complex territorial, political, religious makeup of the region. Some day, something has to change.

Though my hope is it does, for the better

My reality is – I just don’t trust Donald J. Trump.

And that distrust is turning out to be justified to this point. He claims obliteration of the sites. Initial reports from his own Defense Department say that isn’t true.

The Trump-appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs gave the more realistic report immediately after the bombing – that serious damage was done but he didn’t use the word “obliterate.” That’s probably because the truth is no one really knows yet what damage was done. And the chairman was leaning on facts and his own credibility, not trying to score quick political points.

Another question, of course, is: Was obliteration of the sites necessary to stop Iran from having a nuclear bomb? Maybe not. Time will tell.


The president’s press secretary tells us that if something is hit with multiple 30,000-pound bombs, of course it’s been obliterated!

Of course, a 30,000-pound buster bomb, best I can research, weighs 30,000 pounds because it carries a heavy load – propeller to dig into the ground, and other necessary equipment to carry out its mission:– dig hundreds of feet into the earth and then explode. It’s bomb weight is impressive – 2400 kg (that’s a 5,000 pound bomb).

No question it’s big and does serious damage, but when the President and his spokespeople say a “30,000-pound bomb,” that’s not exactly what it is. And the description carries more weight (pardon the unintentional pun), than the bomb itself is. It's more for public relations purposes to label it a "30,000-pound" bomb.

Quibbling, I know, but just trying to lay out some facts.

Trump and his minions are calling the DoD’s initial assessment wrong but that’s based on them thinking it’s wrong, not knowing it’s wrong.


Again, quibbling because no one really “knows” yet what damage the bombing did.

So, if Ronald Reagan, or George H.W. Bush or Bill Clinton, for that matter, had ordered the same bombing – their reports would carry far more credibility than Trump’s, to me anyway. Because they wouldn’t lie about something so serious. But Trump (eye on the Nobel Prize, and history of outlandish statements to make his point) would.

When a President uses up his credibility by telling untold, proven, tens of thousands of lies in his career, when we go to “war” his credibility is, at best, questionable. You can disagree with interpretation of intelligence, as Trump does often, but you can’t disagree with what are facts.

Do I hope the bombing did damage? Of course. What right-minded individual thinks Iran should possess a nuclear bomb? When you have the power to order a big bombing – and you do – you want it to be successful.

Fact is, we just don’t know what real damage the bombing did – yet.

Nor do we know if the current cease fire will  hold. Hard to know when it’s agreed to by two players (Israel and Iran) who have a history  of breaking such agreements and a President whose credibility is, at  best, questionable.

So, we’ll see.

Discussion may, of course, continue.


1 Comment
Roberta Ricciardi
6/26/2025 06:44:10 am

First, I'm a Jew, not a Zionist. I think Netanyahu and the alt-right press are using Judaism as their "excuse" to glorify the war, and that angers me. If you look at some of the social media these days you'll see that this has riled up the "Jews are the reason for war" brigade. It is no different from the months leading up to WWII. When Jews are blamed for things, and people around the world start to agree, then the upswing of persecution has begun and a war is coming. Bibi is counting on this. So is trump.

Meanwhile, trump is the one who cancelled the contract between the US and Iran back in what - 2017? The current buildup of nuclear stockpiles in Iran rests entirely on trump's shoulders.

As for the attack itself - we don't know how many stockpiles they have. If they have only three, and all three were destroyed, yay us I guess? But if they have four - or if one of the three weren't destroyed, then we totally utterly and completely blew it. When you encounter a rabid skunk, you don't try to boop its nose.

In my opinion it was a bad move for the US to get involved in this at all.

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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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