From the beginning, Der Neufuhrer has disparaged and disregarded U.S. intelligence reports. Now, suddenly, he decides that the data are so frightening, the prospects of attack so imminent that he must explode one of the most brutal figures in one of our most brutal enemies. What changed? Easy. Impeachment. The title of this piece refers, of course, to the classic film Wag The Dog about a president who starts a war to divert criticism of himself.

It’s working, of course. Now everyone is talking about war instead of the “I” word. We’ve seen the movie before. We spent the whole 2016 campaign talking about what he just did or said or was about to. You don’t have to be right about an issue or a collection of issues, you just have to control the conversation. So much for health care and corruption and all the other needs of wethepeople.

So now, the intelligence folks are the new heroes who have pointed the way to fiery death for a whole bunch of soldiers and even more “collateral damage” civilians. I was born in 1941. My entire life has been attended by one war or another. We lurched from WWII (the good war?) to the Korean War to Vietnam to Desert Storm to Iraq to Afghanistan. In a way, I don’t blame Mr. T for this latest round of hostilities any more than I blame Obama or Bush for the conflicts before this moment. Several feckless congresses have refused to stand up and be counted. They’ve allowed the 2001 resolution to serve the purpose of a declaration of war, which it is not, and which it shouldn’t have been allowed to stand as an excuse for all the military misadventures since 9/11. Only the heroic Barbara Lee had the guts to speak for me. To his credit, Obama asked several time for congress to define his powers and boundaries when it came to places like Afghanistan. Silence. So he went ahead. A lonely choice, and it hasn’t worked out so well. In truth, I suppose that the Trumpster wouldn’t have paid any more attention to whatever congress thought on this subject than he has paid attention to any other of their resolutions, subpoenas, or even laws (witness his refusal to enforce the Russia sanctions they passed nearly unanimously). But at least there would have been a record and a clear violation.