Syria attack ill-considered

Bombing a Syrian airfield in reaction to the gassing of Syrian children may or may not have been the right thing to do, but the way President Donald Trump went about it was certainly very wrong. In this, he again went off half-cocked, for which he should be impeached, assuming that our representatives are not just a bunch of wimps.

If the president wants to start a war, the Constitution requires that he present the idea to Congress, the only branch of the government allowed to issue a declaration to fight.

Furthermore, before overthrowing a bully dictator, careful consideration must be given to what we must do following his demise, which we failed to do after we got rid of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. After Hitler was deposed, we set up the Marshall Plan to help Germany become a responsible democracy.

In addition, instead of rejecting the agreement with Iran regarding nuclear development, Trump might try issuing a sincere apology for the U.S. part in overthrowing Mosaddegh and installing Pahlavi, the brutal shah who was eventually tossed out when the theocratic ayatollahs took over. Those ayatollahs support ISIS, which has become a monumental nuisance.

Joseph H. Wythe

Sandpoint