Saturday evening, the President of the United States announced that the US Air Force had bombed three sites in Iran associated with that country’s nuclear program.

This follows almost two weeks of attacks on Iran by Israel with the stated purpose to render Iran incapable of building a nuclear bomb.

Iran says its nuclear program is aimed toward peaceful purposes and wasn’t trying to build a bomb in the first place.

Sitting here in South Georgia, we can’t know the truth of what’s happening over there. We’re not privy to the intelligence reports and briefings that the president and other leaders have — and those intelligence reports are themselves limited by the assets that provide the intelligence services their information. Like any other nation, Iran is trying to keep its military secrets — well, secret.

After Israel began attacking June 13, Iran responded with missiles fired into Israel. Its officials have promised retaliation for the American attack too, but President Trump has warned that such a counterstrike would cause the U.S. to attack again, even harder. Assuming the president means what he says, that puts Iran’s leaders in a difficult position.

Twenty-four-hour news channels have focused attention on who Iran might retaliate against, and they raise the specter of attacks on American servicemen stationed in the Middle East. That’s certainly possible, but it’s all but certain to escalate the American response.

Meanwhile, Democrats in America are publicly criticizing Trump for the attack, or at least for not fully briefing Congress on what he was doing.

Y’all need to quit.

There is a reasonable chance of retaliation, but there are plans to prevent or mitigate it. Stop fear-mongering.

There’s a lot to criticize about how the decision to attack was made — but most of the criticism is based on people not having information and not trusting that Trump will make wise decisions with the information that he does have. But whether you like him or not, it’s the job we’ve elected him to do.

The administration does need to brief lawmakers. The president needs them on his side.

But America’s chances of denying Iran a nuclear bomb — a goal shared by Republicans and Democrats — are far greater if the leadership in Iran believes we’re all ready to go to war to make it a reality.

If we’re not at war, we’re at its doorstep. We need to get behind the president as he navigates this crisis.