New Orleans      It’s Mad Hatter time in the US Congress, White House, and on down the line.  Trying to justify Trump’s unilateral war is leaving governmental and political players tongue-tied and brain twisted, as they do their best to come up with some kind of rationalization to cover their front and backsides for why we are bombing Iran other than, because we could.

First, they have the problem of convincing people high and low that Trump wasn’t snookered by Israel’s Netanyahu.  This is the classic problem that some will recall that Britain’s Tony Blair had when he willy-nilly joined the US in the Iraq War.  Stingingly, over the water Blair was called George W. Bush’s “poodle.”  That’s hard to live down.  Now, Trump for all of this braggadocio and chest beating is in the lapdog position and having trouble convincing anyone differently.

Secretary of State Rubio did his best, even if unsuccessfully.  Try to follow this closely, because it’s pretty roundabout.  Rubio argued that since Israel was going to attack Iran, the United States knew that Iran would retaliate and in doing so would fire away at US bases and targets in the Middle East.  If you’re still with me and trying to follow this preposterous fabrication, Rubio’s next leap into the abyss is that since Israel attacked Iran, and Iran would then counterattack Israel and some US facilities, we then had to strike first.

It’s hard not to hear the poodle yipping away now, isn’t it?  If you can swallow this line, the United States is just a passive window shopper in world and Middle Eastern politics.  There’s no mention of negotiations that were underway.  There’s no admission that the US has tremendous sway over Israel and its war making and could have, heaven forbid, put our foot down easily.  There’s no historical memory about the missile attacks against Iran by the US and Israel as recently as last year, when Iran was in fact restrained in its response to the US role, firing a few rockets that seemed almost deliberately to miss their targets and cause little damage.

Normally, a White House makes the case that we react to attacks.  That was certainly the 9/11 justification that put us interminably in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Here, the arguments are endlessly tortured.  We weren’t attacked, but were once again worried about future nuclear capability.  Yes, that’s serious, but Trump walked away from the Iranian nuclear deal in his first term, and in the current negotiations all reports indicate the Iranians were promising not to go there.  Furthermore, didn’t the attacks last year, justified the same way, knock out their nuclear capacity?

Does it matter?  Seemingly not.  The Republican controlled US Senate managed to thwart any vote to deny Trump war powers.  The House is debating, but even if there was a miracle vote to block, Trump could veto, and they would not override.  One imperial presidency after another has made Congress a vassal state, when under partisan control that aligns top to bottom, and as Trump has proven repeatedly – and successfully – if you leave the door open a crack, he’s ready to blow right on through.