Wednesday, August 2, 2017

having, but not declaring, war


Congress has the power, but not the balls, to declare war. Instead, men wearing blue suits and sporting white hair are jockeying and fiddling and tweaking ... in an effort to put American forces in harm's way as it fights an under-defined "terrorism" perpetrated by an under-defined entity called Islamic State. It might be funny if so many people didn't bleed as a result of this much-groomed clusterfuck.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials from President Donald Trump's administration are willing to work with Congress as it attempts to pass a new authorization for military operations against Islamic State, U.S. senators said on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis testified at a classified Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, as it writes an authorization for the fight against the militant group in Syria and Iraq.

4 comments:

  1. I wonder how an official act of war would be/feel different.

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  2. Taking responsibility, however hypocritically, might be nice.

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  3. Genkaku, your notion about taking responsibility is sensible, logical. It assumes that the act in question is one for which one (or a group) would be proud to take responsibility for.

    For quite sometime now, whenever there is an American military action brewing I try to remember or actually read or view President Eisenhower's Speech on the Military Industrial Complex.

    After that my critical thinking is renewed and I come up critical of the politicians, the military, and any the talking heads advocating military action, and ask (rhetorically usually) "who would actually benefit from the killing?" Mostly I come up with "I don't know enough, but it's not going to be me or anybody I know."

    The current political climate in America is such that I have absolutely no confidence in anything coming out of the executive branch. After seeing how the legislative branch handled the Iraqi evidence of "weapons of mass destruction," I've little confidence in anything coming out of that branch of government either.

    Regarding North Korea. Metaphorically, I feel as though the Trump administration is teasing and abusing North Korea's mythological winged horse, Chollima. Then when the horse snorts and bucks, Trump World cries, "Look that's a dangerous beast, it must be subdued."

    As for the Mideast, there seems to be no end to the craziness coming from all parties. I'd love to read or watch a sensible deconstruction of the problems and a presentation of a fair and just solution. As we (should) know the Trump administration is incapable of analysis, logic, fairness or justice.

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  4. My question is why has Trump selected an person who is not a scientist to be the top scientist at the Department of Agriculture?
    What is wrong with Mr. Trump?

    I mean I could see that, possibly, but not likely, an excellent scientist could happen to be a racist. But to fill a job calling for a distinguished scientist with a non-scientist racist.Shouldn't that alone get people scratching their heads about Mr. Trump's sanity (if not his motivations)?

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