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发表于 2026-3-16 12:04:37
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Partisanship on Iran Is Dangerous for America
0 {3 L5 }- \; {7 }% v d5 M K( a# }Trump is doing the right thing for the U.S., and we Democrats should judge the war on
9 Q4 [0 V5 z7 p$ B, [2 k* Ythe merits.
1 [+ M1 w0 I- QBy David Boies . p# }6 q& B, z( {8 ]
March 12, 2026 1:34 pm ET 8 r4 A1 D5 k/ W9 p9 N
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Every past president since Bill Clinton, Republican and Democrat alike, has declared that
3 p2 L# W4 r, zIran couldn’t be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. Not one acted to prevent it. " _ s; D4 s J7 E( m5 T2 e* w
Every president since Ronald Reagan has condemned Iran’s role in terrorism against + P/ }: w& L3 S* R! Y" B- |
American citizens, interests and allies. Not one acted to stop it. Instead each president
( d) K9 o; Q" Hleft his successor with a more dangerous Iran and a more complicated threat to
' e, b/ M( }$ w& v& {address.
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( }1 u3 e8 n2 L! b" gLast June President Trump undertook a limited military operation designed to interrupt + p1 x4 z5 L/ S6 d' I! O( f
Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and discourage the country from continuing its
0 j' f. Z" @: v7 C# r+ s9 B9 fnuclear program. In the face of Iran’s refusal to forswear nuclear weapons and evidence ; B* U5 J9 ]! I
that it was rapidly increasing the number, sophistication and range of its missiles, Mr. 8 \) D+ h, \$ j: d2 F% S
Trump began the current military campaign. , s8 y, t9 _! t) z# Q6 g ^: e
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If he hadn’t acted, his successor would have been left with an even more dangerous
1 l( o; h- _$ f' R: Tchoice than his predecessors left him. Three or four years from now, the Iranian missiles
K* v' M/ l3 h( V! c/ M mnow hitting Iran’s neighbors could be hitting Berlin or London, perhaps even New York " A- N# t! ~6 K
or Washington—perhaps with a nuclear device or at least a dirty bomb. 7 J5 F# i8 W$ B$ I
( H9 M- [% ~" j) qNo sensible person wants a war, a president least of all. Wars destroy lives, waste
% ]; U, n/ C( itreasure and usually are unpopular. But the widespread hostility to this military action : x6 J1 O K! v6 n! }
seems untethered to any serious discussion of the merits. What is the alternative?
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- q3 u3 H# b' s0 r; q- b& sObviously, few are prepared to say it is simply to permit religious madmen who swear 7 i/ |& k& m; u4 J2 o
“death to America” and back up their threats with terrorism to secure nuclear weapons 1 {: z7 x5 {. h) _
and the capability to deliver them. The scope and scale of Iran’s response show how ' ?" O- {: \% |1 R4 u& a0 v$ o" |: O
much its military capabilities have progressed, and how dangerous it would have been
{/ v6 l( _% v5 Bto permit them to increase further. . W- x. o- Y2 a2 O6 y b( |8 U2 r
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For three decades we have tried everything that each president could think of. We’ve
9 o" Q4 z! k/ Ptried being nice, talking tough, moral suasion, negotiated agreement, economic
. }: p! T3 m1 f0 L8 H$ I! ?0 msanctions. None worked. The problem is that there is only one language Iran’s leaders ' S* H) C) J+ L2 d8 g
understand. 0 ~6 X1 m7 _9 l; B* W. c
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I understand some of the hostility to Mr. Trump’s action. The isolationist wing of the & z( X* l9 R# ^+ F* j- t+ e
Republican Party and the pacifist wing of the Democratic Party each are wrapped in the
0 O$ O `+ j: o2 P+ Y; G* a Lfantasy that we can afford to ignore the capabilities and intentions of enemies because
; f$ m0 G" A3 w4 D4 Hthey are thousands of miles away. Two hundred years ago that view was credible. One 8 H' r( o. {) [( ]
hundred years ago it was plausible. Today it takes only one missile carrying a nuclear or ( m; U! M4 I6 I5 ?5 O9 T
dirty bomb to get through our defenses, or one such device smuggled into this country, & J' [; Q, y8 V- y7 v) _! v6 C
to devastate a city.
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5 I( S' l0 D' Y/ N. }I also understand—and deplore—the fringes of both parties that apparently hate Israel
2 | q, F& F! Q9 H% y$ h% @and Jews so much that they oppose any action to neutralize Israel’s enemies. 3 I6 ~. `6 V h, `+ ^
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What is harder to understand, and particularly troubling for our country, is opposition ) ]+ [$ s. Q- T* U6 P- G
rooted simply in antipathy toward Mr. Trump himself. We used to say that politics stops ; b0 s5 m8 J6 p7 b* k7 k: ]$ [
at the water’s edge. That was never completely true; the willingness to bludgeon a |% k0 f- \# |4 C
president over foreign policy for domestic political gain is as old as Vice
' L. ^8 z! ]1 DPresident Thomas Jefferson’s attacks on President John Adams. Yet for most of our
( f. w: n1 b9 Thistory we have given the president the benefit of the doubt. ' ?8 A1 T8 N" i9 Q$ a }2 m
6 x. p8 B. q; G4 SMore important, criticisms have historically been based on policy differences over the
2 T: |1 p O0 \) m+ E9 C* M' _military action at hand, not knee-jerk opposition to the president himself. Many
" d5 _" c3 {6 M2 U1 d' D3 L; E" @8 bRepublicans supported Mr. Clinton’s military actions and President Obama’s surge in ' _1 t }( m& E+ Q5 `
Afghanistan; many Democrats supported President George W. Bush’s actions in 6 l/ \1 X# ^- k {. B5 C" B$ T
Afghanistan and (at least initially) Iraq. More Republicans than Democrats probably ' F3 l7 J, A0 j H0 y9 a- Y; V! O
supported President Lyndon B. Johnson’s actions in Vietnam. 2 U# \& G9 D# Y) Z: Q9 s1 B8 |
8 U/ v5 X* o% @0 y5 g4 t9 pMore important still, even when we believed a president’s actions were misguided, we
8 g7 P* N d' nalmost always wanted him to succeed if possible. Some efforts to curtail what the ( c/ X$ d( H% m2 \) G! ~
president is doing in Iran seem motivated simply by a desire not to give him a win—: S3 n: Q& r4 K% h6 e7 }3 K
even if it means a loss for America. . b2 M+ G+ n1 O: @. t9 T0 m" m
# v8 ~0 d1 {1 ] vWhen North Korea invaded South Korea President Harry S. Truman acted to stop it. It
9 h$ A8 f+ _4 ]( f* [was so unpopular that Truman didn’t seek re-election in 1952. Dwight Eisenhower was
' C( K8 D( b6 l9 R- ^0 d# Relected on the promise that he would go to Korea and end the war. But while Truman - X# V0 ]' R$ ]) y3 W w
was president, lawmakers on both sides supported Truman, even when he removed the
& ?5 P1 b( F; Q2 |+ f J- I% Vpopular Gen. Douglas MacArthur from his command. ; A0 U/ j" K7 b2 n& j+ i
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Truman’s successful defense of South Korea began a four-decade bipartisan effort to
" N# b) T8 ~" y% P, i0 ?; bcontain, and ultimately end, communism as a global threat. One wonders what the 2 g% Z# f2 [+ b( }" L3 G
result would have been if he faced a country as divided and partisan as today’s.
+ D5 B$ T: y- q- fRepublicans, including Mr. Trump, bear a share of the blame for the divisiveness and
6 h y0 W8 f5 B1 ?' ]4 kextreme partisanship that has stunted our ability to cooperate and work together. Those
0 `1 Q% g; g2 x0 _, b: mof us who generally oppose Mr. Trump but who recognize the threat Iran poses need to
# E& s1 I# P- w% Y* f! q1 |$ ~support the military action not because we owe anything to Mr. Trump but because we
% ^; ^4 ]* n7 K4 M+ ]& cowe it to ourselves, our country and our children.
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& {- o0 A- C2 |. E- z( a4 dIf we opposed the war and succeeded in pressuring Mr. Trump to curtail it before the
% m! p z: z3 ?mission is accomplished, we would have the satisfaction of defeating someone we
& T; ~/ g2 o/ W0 N( Y- e4 i, xgenerally oppose, which might help ourselves politically. But America would be worse
" Y- y* A+ A- b2 X: B0 Vfor it. 5 p! L) Q/ E2 D% K0 O- P
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America’s national security is too important to hold hostage to partisanship. We
) F& X( ^( M! tDemocrats need to begin by asking what our position would be, and why, if the action * a# P. x* x4 g9 u1 N# y9 a4 ~5 N
had been taken by Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden. I’m not counting on it, but 6 W% }. |; A6 y' U
maybe in 2029, when a Democrat is in the White House, our Republican neighbors will
' l8 i7 o9 c* U( Treturn the favor, and judge that president’s efforts to keep our nation safe on the merits 5 c9 k) R8 p8 _( Z3 f& m7 ^( g: E: @
and not merely obstruct.
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* d) b0 t& l; j/ J0 R' sIf we believe that Iran presents a serious threat, we need to support the president on
8 W/ @7 g2 f3 C* `/ A3 ^this issue. There’s plenty to disagree with him about, and we don’t need to like or
. L. v8 |& N% M8 H* Y4 r9 vadmire him. But on Iran we should be on common ground. Not primarily because we $ S# h! F ~& R/ B0 q8 A2 q
want to reduce partisanship in foreign affairs—although that is conceivable. Not * F N n7 S0 t
because the voters will reward us for a more measured response—although I hope they - a$ H3 `" W( N4 }4 M$ E) M
will. But because it is the right thing to do for our country, our children and the 2 ]2 X1 \) r+ A& [3 F
Democrat who will succeed Mr. Trump as president.
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Mr. Boies is a founding partner of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner |
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