Trump Needs a Humanitarian Plan for Iran and the Middle East—Before It’s Too Late

(Sam Vigersky – Council on Foreign Relations) More than three weeks into Operation Epic Fury, with U.S. President Donald Trump unleashing the full might of military dominance, a critical feature of the country’s power is conspicuously absent—humanitarian aid. Since 1945, the United States’ global authority has rested on being a complete power: an unmatched military paired with the diplomatic and economic tools needed to advance peace. Together, this has secured a period of safety and prosperity that has defined U.S. leadership for decades. Despite having spent an estimated $11 billion on military operations in the first week of the Iran conflict alone—and an additional $200 billion war supplemental under debate on Capitol Hill—the State Department’s new Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response has yet to articulate, never mind deploy, a coherent humanitarian strategy for the conflict. There’s been no airlifting of emergency supplies to relieve choke points in the Strait of Hormuz. No food assistance to offset inflation in countries nearing famine. No meaningful programming of the $5.4 billion just appropriated by Congress for global humanitarian aid. And no warehouse runs for tarps or blankets to shelter Beirut’s newly homeless families, who have faced heavy rain and thunder on top of a renewed Israeli offensive in recent days. But the absence of a U.S. humanitarian agenda today isn’t a capacity problem—it’s a policy choice. – Trump Needs a Middle East Humanitarian Plan—Before It’s Too Late | Council on Foreign Relations