Translation
A New Reason to Go to War
President Bush acts like a teenager with a credit card and rich parents. He never sees the bill, so he just buys what he wants and charges it. The problem is that instead of rich parents, this president has debt-ridden taxpayers and a gutted military.
A few days before Gen. David Petraeus confirmed for Congress how overworked the military is in Iraq — Bush has now promised to shorten the tours from 15 to 12 months — the president was in Croatia talking about the significance of that country’s and Albania’s invitations to join NATO.
“Henceforth, should any danger threaten your people, America and the NATO alliance will stand with you, and no one will be able to take your freedom away,” he said.
Were the American people consulted on this? Are they aware they are now committed to go to war to protect Croatia and Albania if “any danger” threatens them? Is this administration filled with madmen?
Oh, I forgot. The legal eagles in this administration don’t believe the president has to consult anyone before sending troops anywhere. In their view, that prerogative is part of the inherent powers of the presidency. The recently released 2003 “torture memo” by Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo states, “The decision to deploy military force in the defense of U.S. interests is expressly placed under presidential authority by the Vesting Clause ... and by the commander-in-chief clause.”
As conservative legal analyst Bruce Fein notes,
This is where the imperial mindset gets you. The Bush administration might try to sell his views on the unitary executive as a government-streamlining program. Why have three branches of government if one will do? Think of all the money the taxpayers could save! It’s a deficit-slashing measure.
More than 4,000 American troops have been killed in Iraq. Thousands more lives have been ruined. Tens of thousands of Iraqis civilians have been killed and maimed. The surge in Iraq has been so successful that American bombers had to be called in to put down the Shi’ites in Basra — Shi’ites who were resisting a Shi’ite-led government with close ties to Iran, the bogeyman of the Middle East. In Baghdad, residents were fleeing with as many personal belongings as they could carry because of the violence. The Green Zone, where the Iraqi government and American officials are hunkered down, has been under Shi’ite attack.
Meanwhile, American officials — and Republican standard-bearer John McCain — talk up the threat of Sunni al-Qaeda. Well, we can forgive McCain; despite constant reminders, he thinks al-Qaeda is Shi’ite and taking its orders from Iran.
While Bush, McCain, and the rest of the war chorus tout signs that the surge is working, it has become clear that by the end of the year, there will be more U.S. troops in Iraq than were there before the surge began. This, by administration standards, is success. Stay the course, they say.
And in the midst of all this, President Bush is finding new reasons to send Americans into combat, oblivious to the fact that if you bring NATO, that Cold War relic, up to Russia’s doorstep, the Russians may not believe it’s the Welcome Wagon.
When will this idiocy stop?
 Mr. Richman's articles on population, federal disaster assistance, international trade, education, the environment, American history, foreign policy, privacy, computers, and the Middle East have appeared in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, American Scholar, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Washington Times, Insight, Cato Policy Report, Journal of Economic Development, The Freeman, The World & I, Reason, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Middle East Policy, Liberty magazine, and other publications. He is a contributor to the Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics. Articles by Sheldon Richman at MWC News http://mwcnews.net/sheldon-richman |
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You did forget one aspect, however, of any war: post tramatic stress disorder. I was just talking with a guy about the forgotten war, the Korean War. We agreed, that the PTSD from that war was worse than PSTD from the Viet war. We don't have the history behind us yet. So, no one knows about the PSTD from our current war. What will it be like?
Nothing really about the war on the news. GIs having forced overextension for time over there. Many soldiers having to stay inside their barracks for time unend. Who can say? But, we cannot forget PTSD of Iraq War veterans.
btw, there are no eagles in this administration, just plain hawks, and if you push me, vultures alone.
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Tags: Sheldon Richman John McCain David Petraeus