War
Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs, GOP, Presidential Race 2016, War
Trump’s Candor on Iraq
“Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake,” Trump declares during GOP debate.
Congress, War
Timid
Lawmakers are abdicating one of their most important responsibilities, and emboldening the executive branch to overstep its powers….
Via A Fearful Congress Sits Out the War Against ISIS @ The New York Times.
Link
Foreign Affairs, War
Forever War
Experts and pundits were stunned last week when Taliban forces overran most of the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. Although government troops appear to have retaken portions of the city, they were able to do so only with substantial assistance from the U.S. combat units that are still in the country. Now General John Campbell, the U.S. commander, is urging President Obama to delay the planned withdrawal of the remaining 9,800 U.S. troops and to retain a permanent garrison that is much larger than the president’s plan for 1,000 military personnel. If President Obama unwisely complies with that request, Afghanistan will be on its way to being a permanent nation-building quagmire for Washington….
Drones, War
The Drone Papers
The Intercept has obtained a cache of secret documents detailing the inner workings of the U.S. military’s assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The documents, provided by a whistleblower, offer an unprecedented glimpse into Obama’s drone wars….
War
Fourteen Years
The current American force in Afghanistan of 9,800 troops will remain in place through most of 2016 under the Obama administration’s revised plans, before dropping to about 5,500 at the end of next year or in early 2017, senior administration officials said.
Via Obama to Announce Halt of U.S. Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan @ NYT.
Foreign Affairs, War
Proxy War
Link
Fourteen years on –
Taliban Capture Major Afghan City For First Time Since 9/11 @ Outside the Beltway.
War
A Year of Unauthorized War
Next week marks the one-year anniversary of the start of America’s War with ISIS. But after 12 months and more than 5,000 airstrikes—and with some 3,500 U.S. soldiers on the ground—Congress has yet to hold a vote on authorization for our latest Middle East war.
Via The Fight with ISIS: One Year (and Counting) of Unauthorized War @ Cato Institute.
History, Libertarians, War
The Confederacy as an Anti-Libertarian Lost Cause
Both the Union and Confederacy committed war crimes and abused civil liberties during the Civil War. But from a libertarian perspective, the Confederacy had a worse case for its cause.
Via Libertarians Need Not Support the Confederacy @ Cato Institute.
Foreign Affairs, War
Rumsfeld
War
Betcha can’t start just one…
“Apparently, 74 different wars aren’t enough. Word from a senior non-U.S. NATO official to NSA analyst John Schindler is: “We’ll probably be at war this summer. If we’re lucky it won’t be nuclear.” So said Schindler in a tweet last week.” Via Why is Washington picking a new fight? @ Personal Liberty.
Faith, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Military, War
Placing State over Church
Foreign Affairs, Government Spending, War
Paying to defend those who won’t even defend themselves
“The most significant thing about Secretary Carter’s comments, though, are the extent to which they have demonstrated that notwithstanding months and months in which the Administration and the Pentagon have asserted that the combination of American air strikes and Iraqi military action was degrading ISIS’s position, the fact is that ISIS is apparently as strong…
Government Spending, Legislation, Military, War
More war, less debate
“…. the House majority slipped into the military spending bill an extra $89 billion for an emergency war fund. Such “emergency” spending is not addressed in the growth caps placed on the military under the 2011 budget control act. It is a loophole filled by Congress with Fed-printed money. Ironically, a good deal of this…
Film, History, War
Film: Remembering Amache
We were right to fight the war against Japan until our victory; it was nonetheless a profound error to place Americans of Japanese descent into camps during that war.
See, also, Revisiting a World War II Internment Camp, as Others Try to Keep Its Story From Fading @ New York Times.
Posted at Daily Adams and FREE WHITEWATER.
America, Ethics, Foreign Affairs, Torture, War
McCain on the CIA Torture Report
Goodness knows libertarians have had countless differences with Sen. John McCain, on domestic and foreign policy. We could have no disagreement, however, with his condemnation of the CIA’s use of torture for interrogation of America’s enemies. Our politics – including the acknowledgment of our own ethical failures -should be of the highest standards. To use…