Trump should dispel his fog of war

Nearly a week into the U.S. bombardment of Iran, President Donald Trump has yet to credibly explain his motives, plans and objectives. Nor did he reveal how talks with Tehran abruptly ended with a failure to head off the death and destruction now underway.

If the executive branch is to have any accountability, questions big and small need answers.

The stated military goals include destroying Iran's missiles and its navy, and keeping the Islamic regime from arming, financing or directing violent attacks outside its borders, or developing nuclear weapons. Americans have long been aware of Iran's decades-long role as a hostile global threat and would welcome its end.

But the White House has yet to give us a clear picture of how that is supposed to happen, before the president possibly pivots to regime change in Cuba as his next mission.

How long will his vision of success in Iran take to reach? Trump's initial "could take a few weeks" doesn't cut it. The widening of a war involving Israel and Gulf states, inherently chaotic, cries out for clarity.

American military bases in the region remain vulnerable no matter how skillfully they defend themselves. Six service members were killed Sunday in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait. The longer the war goes on, the more the casualties. Trump has said he will consider sending ground troops into Iran "if necessary."

Destabilization has been the scourge of the Mideast. After the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Trump insists he should be involved in the succession. "We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran," he said. Having the United States pick a supreme leader is unlikely to fly.

The big player in Iran remains the fierce, elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is independent of the nation's regular army. We cannot know what its untethered leadership is planning or how long they'll be able to terrorize Iranians or others. Its brutal repression of dissidents has escalated since the bombing began.

At times like these, previous presidents always went before the nation to defend war efforts and argue their cases for what they planned to do.

If he's to craft support needed for the kind of military intervention he promised never to begin, Trump must immediately try to persuade his concerned but still docile congressional GOP majority that we are on the right track. Otherwise they may start exercising constitutional war and budget powers if only to spare their own electability.

Trump must look into the camera from the Oval Office and level with all of us about what he is doing, and explain it with plain facts. The price of oil has increased 18% since the attack on Iran began and Congress estimates the fighting is costing the United States $1 billion a day. If there's ever a moment for the president to show discipline and try to seriously unite the country, this is it. He can try by honestly talking to us.