Donald Trump seems to be a shady dealer, a blusterer, a prevaricator, an abuser of women — not my choice for president. Yet a case can be made for Trump as the slightly lesser of two evils.
Hillary Clinton could be called an abuser of women, children, and men – through war.
As first lady, she encouraged husband Bill to bomb Yugoslavia, without congressional authorization. As senator, she voted to let George W. Bush commit aggression against Iraq. As secretary of state she pushed presidential intervention in Libya and Syria. In the military actions to thwart the leaders of those four lands, a myriad of civilians have perished or suffered.
Lately she has advocated a no-fly zone in Syria, challenging its government and risking a clash with Russian war planes. President Obama and his senior military advisers oppose that.
Trump opposes it too. He talks of a new relationship with Putin. Russia and the U.S. have missiles on hair-trigger alert, armed with a total of nearly 15,000 nuclear warheads and ready to fire on each other. All life on earth is in peril. What is more urgent than preventing nuclear war?
In the third debate, Hillary appeared to accept the use of nuclear bombs. She said that when the president gives the order, it must be obeyed. NO – an illegal order must be DISobeyed.
The International Court of Justice found that use of a nuclear weapon would violate international law, because it would hit civilians and military targets alike (a 1996 opinion). For a president to initiate any warfare without the prior OK of Congress (as Truman did in Korea and subsequent presidents have done) violates the Constitution. Starting a nuclear war would be the highest of crimes.
Hillary made at least three other incorrect statements in that last debate:
1. That Bill "defended our country." Wrong. He committed acts of war against seven nations that had never threatened us. (Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Yugoslavia.)
2. That President Obama "kept the peace." Wrong. He has waged continuous war for two terms. (His overt battlegrounds: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen.)
3. That Osama bin Laden was "brought to justice." Wrong. He got no trial but was assassinated by presidential order. (Even the mass murderer Adolf Eichmann was treated better, given a trial by the Israelis.)
Can we survive four more years of those types of justice and defense under such a war-hungry hawk as Hillary?
Paul W. Lovinger [send him mail] is a San Francisco writer and editor.