President Trump should end, at least temporarily, the war in Iran by declaring victory, ceasing aerial bombardment of Iranian targets, and calling for good-faith negotiations with Iran’s leadership, with the understanding that should Iran’s leaders fail to reach a reasonable settlement, hostilities will resume. He may thereby be able to stop the war from continuing to spiral seemingly out of control, and avoid creating another “forever war” of the sort we waged in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
The War Powers Resolution Act of 1973 allows the President to wage war for up to 60 days without congressional approval. After that, either Congress must vote to endorse the President’s actions, or the President must order an end to combat operations and withdraw the troops. Congress may grant him an additional 30 days to withdraw the troops if necessary for their safety.
President Trump launched the war on 2/28. March 30, the date this article is published, marks the 31st day of the war. Even as the war seems to be spiraling out of control, with more countries attacked while the cost of living, driven by the rising price of oil, is skyrocketing, President Trump’s time is beginning to run out.
The time element is especially important if President Trump decides to send the Marines and Army Airborne units into ground combat, whether to reopen the Straits of Hormuz or find and secure Iran’s fissionable nuclear bomb-making material. But could they achieve these goals within the remaining 4 weeks Trump has to operate without Congressional approval? Nobody knows for certain, but attainment of these goals may require far more time, perhaps months, as well as greater expenditures of money and losses of life.
Of course, President Trump would be well within his rights to ask Congress for an extension. And it’s almost certain that the Republican-dominated Congress would grant him one. But Trump, even with congressional approval, would be running the risk of creating a new “forever war” of the sort he has always abhorred.
Under the circumstances, the wisest course of action for Trump and the most beneficial for the country may be to declare victory, cease combat operations (for the time being), and demand that Iran’s leadership negotiate with the United States in good faith to settle our outstanding issues. Given the superb conduct of our armed forces to date, more than 10,000 Iranian targets have been attacked and destroyed. Trump can rightly claim that, having achieved the degradation of Iran’s military capacity, the United States has won the war and that peace negotiations must begin. Moreover, through not only the degradation of Iran’s military capabilities but the damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities and capabilities last year, Trump has won the credibility with which to effectively threaten Iran with future military action should it refuse to engage in good-faith negotiations.
There’s no guarantee that this gambit will achieve what we want—a defanged Iran unable to build nuclear weapons, sponsor terrorism, or otherwise maintain its threat to the peace of the civilized world. Given their contempt for human life, the Iranian mullahs may choose to continue to absorb American military attacks. Or they may use the respite to secretly build back better the weapons systems and facilities we’ve destroyed. Nonetheless, assuming Congress approves of the recommended course of action, Trump could once again resume the aerial and ground operations necessary to achieve our goals. But if negotiations before sending ground troops into combat can help us avoid ground combat, we may be able to end the current problems caused by the war and avoid the tragedies of our wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The possibility of avoiding the loss of time, money, and—most importantly—life may well be worth the effort.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018, and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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