BILLINGS, Mont. – One in every of Layton Tallwhiteman’s earliest reminiscences was watching the information at his uncle’s home in Montana in 2003 and seeing the U.S. bomb Baghdad to launch the struggle in Iraq.
Recollections of that struggle — waged partly to search out weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist – flooded again for Tallwhiteman after President Donald Trump ordered weekend bombing strikes on Iran’s nuclear services amid its escalating conflict with Israel.
The administration has indicated it needs to keep away from getting pulled into all-out war. Tallwhiteman, who grew up on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation southeast of Billings, is skeptical.
“Their concept is to remove the risk. Like Bush mentioned in Iraq, ‘We’re going to remove the risk. We’re going to search out weapons of mass destruction and remove them.’ Did that work the best way he deliberate? No, clearly it didn’t,” mentioned Tallwhiteman. The 30-year-old driver for a meals distribution firm mentioned he often votes Libertarian, however backed Democrat Kamala Harris over Trump final yr.
Throughout the U.S. on Sunday, People expressed a mix of assist, apprehension and confoundment on the bombings, which officers mentioned precipitated extreme harm to Iran’s nuclear websites. Administration officers mentioned the strikes left room for Iran to return to negotiations over its nuclear program. But if the battle spirals, it may check Trump’s overseas diplomacy expertise and likewise his assist at dwelling.
‘It needed to be achieved’
B-2 bombers that participated within the weekend strikes returned dwelling to Whiteman Air Power Base in Missouri on Sunday. Close by, retired Air Power veteran Ken Slabaugh mentioned he was “100% supportive” of Trump’s choice and the army personnel who carried it out.
Slabaugh mentioned Iran has confirmed resistance to negotiations over its nuclear program for many years, an issue that he mentioned Trump inherited. Iran cannot be trusted, Slabaugh mentioned, nor allowed to amass nuclear weapons.
“It merely needed to be achieved,” he mentioned of the strikes, including that he is now involved for members of the army around the globe.
“I am happy with the fellows and the gals which can be doing the work on the market. No person on the planet does this like we do, and we have now the liberty and liberty we get pleasure from due to that,” Slabaugh mentioned.
In Rehoboth Seaside, Delaware, Andrew Williams, 18, mentioned he was shocked by the timing of the assault on condition that many Republicans had expressed opposition to U.S. involvement within the Israel-Iran struggle. Nonetheless, he thought it was needed if Iran was constructing nuclear weapons.
“If we’re capable of do away with that, that’s one thing we should always do,” Williams mentioned.
Robert Wallette of Billings mentioned Trump had “good cause” to conduct the bombing as an indication of American assist for Israel.
“Iran’s evil, evil folks. They hate People,” he mentioned.
Concern about battle spinning uncontrolled
Wallette, 69, a retired contract specialist on the federal Indian Well being Service, mentioned he hated Trump when the Republican was first elected due to his smug fashion.
His perspective began to shift after Trump moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In 2024, Wallette voted for Trump based mostly on his guarantees to curb unlawful immigration, placing him among the many 60% of voters backing Trump final yr in Yellowstone County, which incorporates Billings.
However his assist, Wallette was uncertain if Trump can keep away from the U.S. getting drawn right into a deeper battle with Iran.
“Different nations are getting concerned and this can be out of his management,” he mentioned.
Kent Berame, 32, of Davie, Florida, mentioned it was a bit of outrageous for Trump to go rogue and approve the assault with out express assist from Congress. He mentioned he doesn’t agree with the US supporting Israel’s current assaults on Iran.
“There’s concern that we’re placing troops at risk,” mentioned Berame, a Democrat who owns his personal advertising firm. “And clearly there’s a retaliatory response towards all of our bases over there.”
Berame mentioned it’s irritating that the U.S. is likely to be rising hostilities with Iran only a few years after lastly ending the struggle in Afghanistan.
“I don’t wish to see any U.S. troopers in hurt’s method or at risk,” he mentioned.
Again in Billings, Trump voter Patty Ellman mentioned she worries concerning the U.S. getting sucked into one other prolonged battle.
“We’ve sufficient happening in America to get into different nations’ wars. Let’s simply care for us proper now,” she mentioned.
Ellman, a 61-year-old who stepped in as caregiver for her ex-husband after he suffered a stroke, mentioned the U.S. ought to retaliate if attacked, however in any other case keep out of Iran’s battle with different nations.
“That’s their enterprise,” she mentioned. “We have to fear about People and the way we’re going to outlive and are we going to have Social Safety.”
____
With contributions from David Fischer in Davie, Florida; Nicholas Ingram in Knob Noster, Missouri; and Mingson Lau in Rehoboth Seaside, Delaware.
Copyright 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials might not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
