Individuals contacted Sunday by the Mirror mostly saw the benefits outweighing the risks with Saturday’s U.S. bombing of three Iranian sites that were critical for that nation’s development of a nuclear bomb.

The primary goal of the bombings was to destroy a centrifuge enrichment facility at Fordo, located under a mountain and thus impervious to attack from the air by Israel, which fears Iranian development of nuclear weapons, because of Iran’s declared intention to destroy Israel.

A series of guided “bunker buster bombs” dropped on Fordo succeeded in that task, according to President Donald Trump.

Bill Wallen, retired executive director of the Greater Altoona Jewish Federation, is relieved and pleased about the bombings, he said, speaking from the point of view of someone with multiple ties to Israel, like those of many American Jews.

For Wallen and many others of his faith, Israel is “not just some faraway country,” he said.

Rather, it’s an ancestral homeland with connections that include memories of fundraising as children for planting of trees that in some places have become mature forests, memories of mission trips, support given for resettling of Jewish refugees; and relatives, friends and colleagues who live there now, Wallen said.

He saw those forests during a mission trip in 2006, he said.

His son-in-law has relatives who live there, he said.

There’s a community center there named in honor of deceased Altoona lawyer Bertram Leopold, he said.

“The Jewish world is a small world,” Wallen said.

Iran has been attacking Israel relentlessly for decades through “proxy” paramilitary groups — Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis — and if it had succeeded in developing a nuclear weapon, it could have delivered it in a truck, with catastrophic results, according to Wallen.

The U.S. bombing lifted an “existential threat,” he said.

From a strictly American perspective, however, there is worry, according to Wallen.

He has two grandsons, including one who is 17 and is considering military service.

“He wants to be a pilot in the Air Force,” Wallen said.

It wasn’t long ago that the U.S. got “bogged down” in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and there seems to be a risk that the bombing could end up snagging the U.S. into a “protracted war,” Wallen said.

U.S. service members in various parts of the world, along with U.S. diplomats in the Middle East and elsewhere, may be vulnerable now, because “Iran has tentacles all over the place,” he said.

“It’s scary,” he said.

Trump ‘means business’

U.S. Rep. John Joyce (R-Blair) was wholehearted in his approval of the bombing.

“Strength, courage, and leadership,” Joyce stated in a posting on social media that was relayed by his office to the Mirror.

“President Trump and the United States Military showed all of these in stopping Iran with a targeted response from building nuclear warheads,” Joyce stated. “A nuclear armed Iran was an unacceptable reality for our soldiers and allies in the region.”

State Sen. Judy Ward (R-Hollidaysburg) took a similar tack.

Iran should never have a nuclear weapon, so “the president needed to do this,” Ward said in a phone interview.

She conceded that many people don’t like Trump.

“But this is going to keep us safe,” she said.

Trump said repeatedly he wanted peace and gave Iran ultimatums to desist in its nuclear development efforts, Ward said.

But Iran didn’t desist, so the bombing took place, which shows Trump “means business,” Ward said.

Still, there is concern, she said.

Her son was deployed twice to the Middle East, once on a destroyer and once on an aircraft carrier, she said.

“(My) prayers go out to families with loved ones in the military,” she said. “But I think they would agree that this is something that needed to happen.”

Limited options

State Rep. Lou Schmitt (R-Altoona), had a similar take.

“Clearly, Iran cannot be allowed to develop deliverable nuclear weapons,” Schmitt said in a phone interview. “It’s a terrorist state.”

He’s not worried, however, about a conventional military response, because Iran’s military “is not meant to project power,” but rather to control the Iranian people, Schmitt said.

Iran’s options are limited, which means that it will retaliate through terrorism, Schmitt predicted.

That could occur in the U.S. and also abroad, where tourists, especially in southern European countries like Italy and Greece, may be vulnerable, he said.

The Middle East is a “combustible place” where there’s always the danger of “great powers getting dragged in,” Schmitt added.

Conflict is unavoidable

David Heverly of Biloxi, Miss., a native of Bellwood, and his wife Lisa, a Connecticut native, were visiting the Railroaders Memorial Museum Sunday afternoon.

The bombing was necessary, and it was also “quick and decisive,” David said.

Trump indicated he would wait two weeks, but properly did not, to ensure that the action achieved its full effect, by preventing any evasive moves by Iran, according to Lisa.

Still, the action is likely to “open a can of worms,” Lisa said.

What about Trump’s campaign rhetoric against “forever wars”?

Conflicts with other nations are unavoidable, David said.

David is an Air Force master sergeant who works as an mechanic on C-130 transport planes, and who has been deployed to Qatar, while Lisa is a retired Air Force pharmacist.

The bombing had to be done “sooner or later,” said Brian Lehman of Johnstown, who was visiting the museum with his wife Sharon.

Lehman is optimistic that “boots on the ground” for U.S. forces in the Middle East won’t be necessary in the aftermath — except maybe special operations.

People in the U.S. aren’t “ready” for boots on the ground in a foreign country anyway, he said.

Even so, the situation calls for prayer, Sharon said.

“Iran is the center of evil” in the Middle East, Brian said. “The legs of the spider.”

Not all in favor

Republican City Councilman Jesse Ickes wasn’t happy to see news of the bombing.

“But I don’t believe there was any alternative,” Ickes said.

He doesn’t think Iran would “think twice” about using nuclear weapons on its enemies if it had succeeded in developing them, he said.

Nor does he believe Iran will “stand down” as Trump has demanded, he said.

He “doesn’t want to begin to ponder” what might result with Iran’s potential retaliation, he said.

“The only language (the Iranian government) speaks is violence,” he said.

While there was genuine cause for concern about Iran developing a nuclear bomb, Trump’s bombing without Congressional discussion or authorization represents a violation of the Constitution, said Indivisible Blair County President Carol Taylor.

Taylor is worried that Iran’s likely retaliation will put U.S. troops in the Middle East and other U.S. citizens in danger, she said.

She thinks the administration’s hope that Iran would do anything else but retaliate is wishful thinking.

“If you punch somebody in the nose, then say, ‘now, let’s talk,’ it’s not likely to happen,” she said, referring to the administration’s stated wish on Sunday that it wants to “talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement.”

Jay Ingram of Altoona isn’t a Trump fan, he said, pausing from work Sunday outside the Station Medical Center.

“(Trump) started something we don’t need to be involved in,” he said. “He’s too power hungry.”

There is a risk of all-out war, if Iran retaliates against American troops in the Middle East, then Trump retaliates in turn, Ingram said.

“If it’s one-and-done, (then) OK,” he said.

The U.S. bombing “shouldn’t have happened,” said Marian Rolewicz of Pittsburgh, who was visiting the rail museum. “Enough bombs and people killing people,” she said.

“Us sticking our nose in, or anybody else sticking their nose in, isn’t making it any easier,” Rolewicz said.

She questioned Trump’s motives.

Trump seems to be in it for himself, she said.

Perhaps deja vu

“We’ve been down this road before,” said Blair County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Gillian Kratzer, suggesting that the current situation may be analogous to the runup to the disastrous Iraq war.

She questioned the legitimacy of the claim that Iran was on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon, given that it has allegedly “been on the edge” of doing so for two decades, she said.

And the timing of the bombing is suspicious, given the general unhappiness in the U.S. with Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”‘s proposed cuts to Medicaid, she said, suggesting that the bombing is intended to serve as a distraction.

And the bombing seems inconsistent with the Trump campaign calling for an end to “forever wars,” she said.

The bombing, moreover, risks getting the U.S. into another war she said.

“I hope strongly we don’t get there (to another war),” she said.

But it would have been better to have renewed the nuclear deal with Iran years ago, she said.

According to Anton Zamyatin of St. Petersburg, Russia, who was visiting the rail museum, the bombing is less about Iran and Israel than it is about the U.S.-China great-power competition.

“The new cycle of world hierarchy,” Zamyatin said. “The competition to be hegemon.”

As such, it’s an attempt to separate China from the European market and is connected to issues with Middle Eastern trade routes, Zamyatin said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.