To The Reader’s Forum:

We commend the administration on Ambassador Haley’s admirable job of getting China to join other UN Security Council members to vote for sanctions. Secretary Tillerson was also willing to open a dialog with the North if they were willing to halt their missile tests. The secretary went further saying; “We do not seek regime change. We do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula. We do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel. We are not your enemy, we are not your threat, but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us and we have to respond.”

Confusing this message is CIA director, Mike Pompeo, who stated that regime change was at the heart of our approach to North Korea and Vice President Pence who stated that since previous attempts had failed miserably the US was not seeking engagement. Most troubling was Mr. Trump’s recent and reckless statement; “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with the fire and the fury like the world has never seen.” I’m not sure which mad man I fear most, Mr. Trump or Kim Jong Un.

It is now more important than ever, with a narcissistic, vindictive, and impetuous, person in the White House, one who has no experience and an extreme lack of morals, for the Congress to reassert its war making authority and stop Mr. Trump from an ill-considered action the world will regret for generations.

Tom Meara

Jamestown