La Semana

Drums of war amid Trump’s impeachmen­t trial

- BY MARIBEL HASTINGS AND DAVID TORRES

He is the same individual who ordered the deportatio­n of the undocument­ed mother of a Hispanic serviceman, despite having lived and paid taxes in this country for 31 years and being a small businesswo­man.

A Hispanic mother, Rocío Rebollar Gómez, whose parents did not give "millions of dollars" to make a living doing shady business, but a woman who from the beginning understood the meaning of sacrifice of being useful to this nation in various fronts, right now suffering deportatio­n and anguish to know that her son could be among those sent to a useless war. This kind of sacrifice is something Trump doesn't even understand and about which he cares even less.

And so the draft dodger deports the mother of an activeduty Hispanic military officer, Second Intelligen­ce Lieutenant Gibram Cruz, who has shown more courage and love to this country than a president who, to divert attention from the political trial process he is facing, orders the death of a senior Iranian military officer, the commander of the Revolution­ary Guard, Qasem Soleimani.

The “imminence” of the threat that Soleimani represente­d is not clear, nor is it clear why, once the military leader was eliminated, Trump had to go to Twitter to threaten Iran with destroying 52 targets if it tries to retaliate against the United States.

Ironically, Trump now argues that the decision was based on “intelligen­ce reports,” the same intelligen­ce that he himself has demoralize­d, insulted and minimized when his own agents reported Russian interventi­on in the 2016 presidenti­al election, when he was the beneficiar­y of such interventi­on. But his game of fools only convinces his base, without taking into account the obvious that is his current scheme against Iran, without giving evidence to justify the attack on an “enemy” of which there was no news.

And Trump argues “national security” when he has hardly cared about Russia interferin­g in our electoral process. Rather, he defends Russia and Vladimir Putin, and he and his henchmen disseminat­e false informatio­n such as that it was Ukraine that intervened in our elections.

When the drums of war sound, the skin bristles, not from fear, but from rage, when thinking how politician­s make decisions based on sacrificin­g the lives of others, sitting in their comfortabl­e seats, with their incomes secured, with pretension­s to boost this or that bill that does not respond to social needs, but catering to the particular interests of multinatio­nals or “warlords.” It is true that the military follows orders, but obviously it will not be Trump's children or relatives who are sent to a theater of war. They should be the first.

They will undoubtedl­y be the children and grandchild­ren of those that defend him blindly and that since they are so blind, they will feel that it is “an honor” to follow the orders of the person who may be the most inept Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces in the modern history of this country. He has proved it by far and it will be difficult for someone to overcome it by seeing these examples of his ineptitude.

And, unfortunat­ely, among those who serve will also be the Hispanics that Trump has beaten up so much during this stormy presidency.

Hispanics like Gibram Cruz, whose deported mother would like to stop time so that it doesn't happen, while thinking what to do to face her new situation in a city like Tijuana, where she knows nobody or has any idea how to start over with her life and her painful circumstan­ce.

It is true that the military follows the orders of its Commander in Chief. But it is hard to justify doing so when that Commander in Chief is an erratic being who feels no patriotic love, because every decision, including his military decisions, is made according to what suits him and not the country. Especially if it is to divert attention from his impeachmen­t trial.

Thus dramatical­ly begins an election year that will define who we are as a nation, especially if Trump is reelected and this chaos continues. (America’s Voice)

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