by Pa Rock
Veteran
All war all the time seems to be the continuing geo-political reality for the United States of America and its armed forces. Way back in 2001, when a couple of dozen young Saudi Arabians shattered America's myth of impenetrability - and George W. Bush promptly pulled on his big boy pants and began wars of retaliation in Iraq and Afghanistan, nobody would have supposed that the ensuing mayhem would still be taking lives, destroying families, and burning through U.S. "defense" dollars nearly twenty years later.
Not only are Bush's ill-advised wars still continuing with no end in sight, they are also spreading. As Al-Qaeda or ISIS or whatever our enemies de jour are calling themselves today are defeated in one location, they promptly pop up in three others. The Middle East wars are now percolating in places as far-flung as Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and, as we learned in the past few weeks, Niger. Wherever these Islamic "terrorists" emerge, Uncle Sam quickly rushes in to join the fight.
When the founding fathers drafted the documents that formed our great nation, they carefully crafted several checks and balances to try and keep any one of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) from eventually overpowering the others. One of those checks was involved the pursuit of war. The President (executive branch) serves as the commander-in-chief and has the power to direct our war efforts, but the President does not have the constitutional authority to declare a war - that rests with Congress (the legislative branch).
So who declared the damned war in Niger - and how did we wind up sacrificing the lives of young Americans there?
Sadly, it all goes back to Congress who, in its infinite wrath and malignant stupidity after the 9/11 attacks by those Saudi boys, passed a war act in 2001 that essentially gifted their powers of declaring war to the President, something the framers of the Constitution had diligently sought to avoid. The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) gave free-rein to Dick Cheney, the puppet-master of George W. Bush, to pretty much send American forces to fight wherever and whomever he damned well pleased. More sadly, that act is still in force two Presidents and sixteen year later. And, most sadly of all, a blithering mongrel who conducts diplomacy through Twitter, is now in control of all of that unfettered power.
But now American forces are fighting and dying in places far beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, and now a few thoughtful individuals in Congress are beginning to ask why? Why are we fighting in places like Niger, and how in the heck did we get there? Who authorized it? How can Congress take the power to wage war back from a clearly incompetent executive?
There is an effort brewing in Congress, albeit modest so far, to rein in the never-ending AUMF and perhaps even bring it to a close. Predictably, the idea of ending war is not sitting well with America's most ferocious patriots - the armaments industry - and they are pulling out all of the stops to insure that Congress does nothing that would harm their corporate bottom lines. With a pliable fool in the White House, now is not the time to mess with his ability to spread America's economic global interests through ever-expanding wars.
The military-industrial complex has opened another front in their war the peace and stability of the world. The new assault is against Congress and its objective is to protect profits through preserving the standing AUMF that has been the legal pretext for the military engagement of all American troops since 2001. The two leaders of this assault on democracy are Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson - both Trump appointees.
Mattis and Tillerson are arguing that Congress should keep the current AUMF in place, and if they change it, that should only be in way's that would increase the powers of the executive branch. Mattis and Tillis want to insure that any new Authorization for the Use of Military Force would not have limitations of time and geography.
Mattis and Tillerson are carrying water for the arms industry, a group that often pockets a profit from both sides when mankind begins killing one another over critical things - like religion. They argue that the President should be free to put our young men and women in harm's way in perpetuity - and anywhere he pleases. After all, it's what the founding fathers would have wanted, if they had anticipated anyone as grand as Donald Trump ever holding the office - just ask Sarah Palin, a noted expert on the founding fathers.
Trump, after all, did wear a uniform in prep school.
America's military involvement in the Middle East is feeding and spreading Islamic radicalism. It didn't work sixteen years ago, and it is not working today. It's time for Congress to reclaim its authority to wage war.
Congress, do your job!
Veteran
All war all the time seems to be the continuing geo-political reality for the United States of America and its armed forces. Way back in 2001, when a couple of dozen young Saudi Arabians shattered America's myth of impenetrability - and George W. Bush promptly pulled on his big boy pants and began wars of retaliation in Iraq and Afghanistan, nobody would have supposed that the ensuing mayhem would still be taking lives, destroying families, and burning through U.S. "defense" dollars nearly twenty years later.
Not only are Bush's ill-advised wars still continuing with no end in sight, they are also spreading. As Al-Qaeda or ISIS or whatever our enemies de jour are calling themselves today are defeated in one location, they promptly pop up in three others. The Middle East wars are now percolating in places as far-flung as Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and, as we learned in the past few weeks, Niger. Wherever these Islamic "terrorists" emerge, Uncle Sam quickly rushes in to join the fight.
When the founding fathers drafted the documents that formed our great nation, they carefully crafted several checks and balances to try and keep any one of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) from eventually overpowering the others. One of those checks was involved the pursuit of war. The President (executive branch) serves as the commander-in-chief and has the power to direct our war efforts, but the President does not have the constitutional authority to declare a war - that rests with Congress (the legislative branch).
So who declared the damned war in Niger - and how did we wind up sacrificing the lives of young Americans there?
Sadly, it all goes back to Congress who, in its infinite wrath and malignant stupidity after the 9/11 attacks by those Saudi boys, passed a war act in 2001 that essentially gifted their powers of declaring war to the President, something the framers of the Constitution had diligently sought to avoid. The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) gave free-rein to Dick Cheney, the puppet-master of George W. Bush, to pretty much send American forces to fight wherever and whomever he damned well pleased. More sadly, that act is still in force two Presidents and sixteen year later. And, most sadly of all, a blithering mongrel who conducts diplomacy through Twitter, is now in control of all of that unfettered power.
But now American forces are fighting and dying in places far beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, and now a few thoughtful individuals in Congress are beginning to ask why? Why are we fighting in places like Niger, and how in the heck did we get there? Who authorized it? How can Congress take the power to wage war back from a clearly incompetent executive?
There is an effort brewing in Congress, albeit modest so far, to rein in the never-ending AUMF and perhaps even bring it to a close. Predictably, the idea of ending war is not sitting well with America's most ferocious patriots - the armaments industry - and they are pulling out all of the stops to insure that Congress does nothing that would harm their corporate bottom lines. With a pliable fool in the White House, now is not the time to mess with his ability to spread America's economic global interests through ever-expanding wars.
The military-industrial complex has opened another front in their war the peace and stability of the world. The new assault is against Congress and its objective is to protect profits through preserving the standing AUMF that has been the legal pretext for the military engagement of all American troops since 2001. The two leaders of this assault on democracy are Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson - both Trump appointees.
Mattis and Tillerson are arguing that Congress should keep the current AUMF in place, and if they change it, that should only be in way's that would increase the powers of the executive branch. Mattis and Tillis want to insure that any new Authorization for the Use of Military Force would not have limitations of time and geography.
Mattis and Tillerson are carrying water for the arms industry, a group that often pockets a profit from both sides when mankind begins killing one another over critical things - like religion. They argue that the President should be free to put our young men and women in harm's way in perpetuity - and anywhere he pleases. After all, it's what the founding fathers would have wanted, if they had anticipated anyone as grand as Donald Trump ever holding the office - just ask Sarah Palin, a noted expert on the founding fathers.
Trump, after all, did wear a uniform in prep school.
America's military involvement in the Middle East is feeding and spreading Islamic radicalism. It didn't work sixteen years ago, and it is not working today. It's time for Congress to reclaim its authority to wage war.
Congress, do your job!
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