Social Justice Magazine
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 Although John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, laudably sent a recent letter to President Barack Obama suggesting the possibility of a violation of the War Powers Resolution in the attack on Libya, he was 90 days too late.Obama’s violation did not occur this past weekend, but when the first American aircraft attacked Libya.The War … [Read more...]
Barack Obama, a president with no prior military experience, has so far cowered in the presence of the military and U.S. defense establishment. The most recent example is the passing-over of Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright to take over the job of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the number-one military man in America.Cartwright was Obama’s favorite general … [Read more...]
Welfare to Defense Contractors With yawning federal deficits and the need to once again raise the U.S. government’s staggering debt north of the current $14.3 trillion ceiling, both feuding parties, as usual, lack the political courage to cut welfare to their own supporters.For example, Republicans protect the defense budget, the vast majority of which has nothing to do with fighting … [Read more...]
The killing of Osama bin Laden reminds us that there are only two disciplines in which uncaused events occur—quantum physics and the history of U.S. foreign policy.According to the version of history expounded by the American media and politicians, the passenger aircraft hitting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11 were a diabolical surprise attack out of the blue by the evil … [Read more...]
Although the Obama administration has said that the killing of Osama bin Laden is not a VE or VJ day—which brought a return to normal times after World War II ended—perhaps it should be. President Obama should declare that the Bush-era “war on terror” has finally been won. The main trunk of al Qaeda has been severely weakened, and regional affiliates of the group would likely focus on … [Read more...]
Defense analysts and military personnel are trained to analyze the U.S. defense posture in a certain way. But even analysts who are trying to be restrained in their assessment of threats and force and equipment requirements are politically naïve about the way the real world of defense budgeting works. A different approach is needed to successfully cut the defense budget. … [Read more...]
U.S. Intervention in Libya There are many practical reasons why the U.S. military attack on Libya is a bad idea—including that Libya has nothing to do with American vital interests, that helping an unknown opposition is fraught with risks of getting something worse than Moammar Gadhafi, and that the United States was overstretched militarily (already conducting two other wars) and financially … [Read more...]
High Costs May Not Be the Worst Aspects of the Attack on Libya As if getting enmeshed in a third simultaneous war—with costs soaring in a time of economic peril, yawning budget deficits, and national debt—when no vital national interest was at stake wasn’t bad enough, that is not the worst of it.As in George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, analysis of the stated reasons for President … [Read more...]
Although the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the federal budget deficit will soar to a peacetime record $1.5 trillion in 2011, President Barack Obama has offered a puny proposal to freeze domestic discretionary spending (excludes huge entitlement programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) for five years. This proposal sounds much bolder than it is, because domestic … [Read more...]
Although with the new treaty reducing deployed long-range strategic missiles (New START), an agreement on nuclear cooperation, and an arrangement to transport supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan through Russia, U.S.-Russian relations are on the upswing, there is much more to be done. And Russian proposals should be taken seriously, because they might also serve U.S. interests.The Russians … [Read more...]
The American media continues to tout the reduced violence in Iraq without foreseeing the long-term potential for a resumption of severe ethno-sectarian violence and the absence of mechanisms—à la Sudan—to defuse it.The lull in Iraqi mayhem was mainly achieved by the U.S. bribery of Iraqi Sunni tribes (the “Awakening”) to fight against their foreign-led Sunni brethren from al-Qaeda. … [Read more...]
The hawks are at it again. During the debate on ratification of the new START treaty, some implied that reducing the number of U.S. nuclear warheads and launchers would undermine America’s ability to extend its umbrella of nuclear protection over more countries in the Middle East. They said this was required to obviate the need for Iran’s neighbors to arm themselves with nuclear weapons, … [Read more...]
If actions speak louder than words, the U.S. military this week seemed to confirm the pessimistic findings of the National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which it had pooh-poohed only last week. The military assessment emphasized a rosy picture of gains in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistan, whereas the NIEs, a product of all 16 U.S. … [Read more...]
Although the recently released WikiLeaks secrets document the well-known animosity of Iran’s neighbors to the radical Islamist regime—with their hopes for a U.S. attack on the nation over its nuclear enrichment program—talks to end the Iranian effort will continue. In advance of the next installment of negotiations to be held in Istanbul in January 2011, Gary Samore, the White House … [Read more...]
Either God or the U.S. government is out to get Julian Assange, the founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. Assange is either a modern-day Job or there is an orchestrated campaign (presumably) by the U.S. government to compel his Web site to desist in its publication of classified U.S. government documents and diplomatic cables. But Assange should not be persecuted simply because the U.S. … [Read more...]
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