New Yorker: Trump Eyes Iran as Bush Once Eyed Iraq

US intelligence officials testified on live television before a Senate committee that their evidence shows Iran has not resumed efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Donald Trump initially took offense, before claiming the public mischaracterized the assessment and the officials privately agreed with him. “Trump’s rejection of intelligence assessments of Iran’s weapons of mass destruction capabilities eerily echoes the Bush administration’s rejection of Iraq’s WMD capabilities a decade and a half earlier,” explains Jonathan Chait for the New Yorker. The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003 based on scanty evidence, at a cost of $2 trillion and the loss of about 200,000 lives, including US and Iraqi troops and civilians. The war devastated Iraq’s economy and infrastructure, swelled US debt and strengthened Iraq’s regional influence. In a subsequent television interview, Trump suggested he plans to keep troops in Iraq to “watch Iran.” Trump withdrew from the multinational agreement on containing Iran’s nuclear weapons development. Chait points to the context of the US missteps in 2003, less than two years after the 9/11 attacks, and expresses concern about the hawkish views of John Bolton, the US national security advisor and dismissal of diplomatic efforts or expertise. Trump is isolated, Chait notes, and “Bolton does benefit from a near vacuum in rival power sources.” – YaleGlobal