Melvin Goodman CounterPunch
The Democrats have taken control of the House and the Senate with younger, more progressive candidates. While these young men and women have a deep understanding of the domestic challenges they face to reverse Trumpism, they have little experience with the national security challenges that Donald Trump has created.
Trump has wasted blood and treasure in an illegal and immoral war against Iran; forged a misbegotten strategic alliance with Israel; compromised relations with our traditional allies in Europe; abandoned one of the genuine heroes of the 21st century—Volodymyr Zelensky—and wasted economic and military resources needed in more essential areas of American national security.
Prior to the arrival of Trump, the Global War on Terror was costly in terms of blood and treasure, taking 7,000 military lives as well as 8,000 military contractors. The United States claimed that torture and abuse were used to prevent attacks on its soil, but then FBI director Robert Mueller conceded that CIA coercion produced no intelligence that disrupted terrorist attacks.
The national security opportunities to advance U.S. interests are abundant, but there are limits to what the Democrats can do and only a limited number of Democrats with the necessary experience in foreign and national security policy. Russia and Iran appear ready to discuss limits on nuclear power and modernization, but there is no one in the Trump administration who cares about and understands the problems and arcana of arms control and disarmament.
Other than the demand to end the Iran war, which would require withholding defense spending, the mid-term election campaigns offered no discussion of the serious national security issues that must be addressed. The strategic relationship with Israel must be reversed, but this is a tough and divisive issue for Democrats. Congress must not pass the $1.5 trillion defense budget, which represents more spending than that of the rest of the global community. National missile defense is not needed; the same can be said for the modernization of strategic nuclear weapons, which have no utilitarian value.
It’s obvious that the new wars are hard to end, but do Democrats and Republicans understand this simple fact. Both parties have supported losing confrontations in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran for the past 50 years. Iran is an excellent example of a war that neither the United States nor Iran can win; neither side will emerge stronger from the struggle. The war has cost the United States more than $50 billion, and Congress is faced with approving an additional appropriation of nearly $90 billion. U.S. bases throughout the Middle East have been pummeled, and more than 80 military aircraft have been destroyed or damaged. Our 700 military bases and facilities the world over have become a liability in many cases.
Meanwhile, Trump has complicated future decision-making with the politicization of the military, intelligence and diplomatic communities. The respective roles of Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, and Marco Rubio have weakened these institutions that Democrats will have to rebuild. It will take several years to recreate the institutional memory that has been lost, rebuild our alliances with traditional partners, and forge the credibility that would allow the United States to resume its important role in creating a new international order. Trump’s mishandling of the global economy must also be addressed.
Trump has gutted arms control and disarmament, so Democrats must pursue a dialogue with both Russia and Iran to test their readiness to negotiate. Russian President Putin has been trying to get the attention of the Trump administration for the past year, and now Iran is signaling the idea of nuclear talks as long as the United States lifts sanctions. China is not currently prepared to limit its smaller nuclear arsenal, but it favors being part of a dialogue that includes confidence-building measures and the installation of crisis communications channels. The three nuclear powers must address the need for human control over artificial intelligence in all military decision-making, particularly nuclear decision-making.
The appointment of the odious Stephen Miller as chief of staff is the latest indication of Trump’s unwillingness to compromise on any domestic or foreign policy issue. In a traditional sense, Trump is a lame duck president who has lost control of Congress. Miller has been Trump’s most vociferous supporter in the use of force, and the likelihood of greater confrontation with Iran and hostilities against Cuba are greater with Miller as chief of staff. Napoleon said that you should “never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” but the mistakes of Trump, Hegseth, and Miller must not be simply interrupted. They must be stopped.
Melvin A. Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. A former CIA analyst, Goodman is the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism. and A Whistleblower at the CIA. His most recent books are “American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump” (Opus Publishing, 2019) and “Containing the National Security State” (Opus Publishing, 2021). Goodman is the national security columnist for counterpunch.org.