Letters | Donald Trump must prevail over hawks like Bolton and prevent war with Iran
- America should know from past experience that regime change does not guarantee the advent of democracy
The Iraq war would be child’s play compared to a war against Iran, which will put up a fight, far worse than all of the wars in the Middle East since 1948 combined. Much of the Middle East will be in flames. American casualties will be many times that of the Iraq war.
The US efforts to establish democracies in Egypt and Libya in the wake of the Arab spring offer glaring examples of the dismal failure of such plans. To resolve the conflict with Iran by toppling the clergy though the use of force is not the answer. Even if Iran loses such a war, that in no way guarantees that regime change and democracy will follow. The solution lies through negotiation and only negotiation, until all conflicting issues that separate the US and its allies from Iran are settled peacefully.
We have paid and continue to pay dearly for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and we are still fighting the latter. Of all the promises that Trump made in his political campaign for the presidency, preventing another war is the one promise he must keep.
