Support the Troops: Bring Them Home!

Last week we heard that US sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and other ships in the Middle East were being fed food that, from photos that surfaced in the media, looked worse than what you would feed a dog. Parents and spouses of service members risked disciplinary action against their loved ones to highlight to the US Navy Secretary and to the media the revolting conditions aboard the carrier, which has been at sea with no port of call for a record period of time.

Stories of broken toilets, filth, and mold everywhere were reported in the media last week. One troubling story in the Guardian claimed that multiple sailors aboard the Lincoln have attempted suicide due to the unbearable conditions aboard the carrier.

The Trump Administration’s response speaks volumes about its claim to “support the troops.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth immediately brushed off concerns about conditions aboard the Abraham Lincoln as “fake news.” He didn’t utter a word of concern for the troops he so enjoys being photographed working out with. He didn’t order a thorough review of the conditions on the ship. He didn’t promise to get to the bottom of things. He didn’t express any concern for the troops. He just said reports were “fake news.”

President Trump responded to the allegations even more callously than Hegseth. When a reporter told him that family members are concerned about conditions aboard the Abraham Lincoln, President Trump said, “no they’re not.” When asked whether the carrier’s record eight-month deployment was too long, he responded, “no no no, not nearly long enough.”

I am sure the parents and spouses of the sailors aboard the Lincoln would disagree.

By the end of last week, we learned at least some of the reasons for the lack of decent food for the troops. According to a report in the New York Times, on the first day of the US attack on Iran, Iran responded by nearly destroying the US Naval base in Bahrain. That base, the (former) home of the US 5^th Fleet, had been a major logistics hub for the US in the region and was critical for re-supply of fresh food for the service members on board. With Bahrain no longer capable of functioning as a major US base, the fallback was a US facility on the tiny island of Diego Garcia, more than 2,000 miles away.

There is a bigger lesson here than lack of planning for Trump’s war of choice on Iran. Our Constitution – the supreme law of the land – only allows the United States to go to war if the war is approved beforehand by “the people’s branch” of government, the US Congress. There is a reason for this. Unless under direct attack, the use of the military must be subject to a thorough public debate. It was never meant to ride on the whim of a President. Given the opportunity, the executive is much more likely to take the country to war for reasons not related to defending our country. That is the chief reason we broke with King George in the first place.

As I always said on the campaign trail, the best way to support the troops is to bring them home. Never has that message been clearer than today.