NATO

The Politics Of The Libyan Civil War Intervention

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With the US involvement in the Libyan Civil War, along with that of France, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Canada, Denmark, and Norway, and with the backing of the Arab League, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United Nations, and lack of use of their Security Council veto by Russia and China, we are seeing a political split developing in our nation.

We have learned that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after earlier doubts, was finally convinced by UN Ambassador Susan Rice.

We have also learned that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen had great doubts on the intervention, but of course were loyal team members once the decision was made for involvement.

Also, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, of different political persuasions and the last two losing Presidential candidates in 2008 and 2004 both felt that intervention was essential.

Independent Senator Joe Lieberman and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also have strongly backed the military action, but Republican Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking member ofr the Kerry led Foreign Relations Committee, has expressed great upset at the intervention, and Speaker of the House John Boehner has made it clear that the President needed to consult Congress before taking action, which he basically failed to do, leading to a controversy over the War Powers Act of 1973, which mandates an explanation by the President within 48 hours, and the ability of Congress in theory to demand withdrawal after the military action, IF they can gain a majority vote in both houses of Congress, which has never happened, and is unlikely ever to happen!

The lack of consultation so far has angered Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich so much that he has brought up the concept of impeachment of the President, which certainly is not going to happen, but shows the turmoil developing because of the US now being committed to THREE wars at once, all in Muslim nations!

The danger is that Obama might, by what he has decided to do, to intervene to stop mass murder in Libya, could end up in a protracted war that could cost the nation many billions of dollars at a time when we are in economic crisis and cutting domestic budgets in states and nationally.

Additionally, it could cause Obama to have a Democratic opponent in the Presidential primaries of 2012, who assuredly he could defeat, but the attacks that would occur against him would weaken him, and make him more subjected to the likelihood of defeat in the Presidential Election of 2012 by the Republican nominee for that office!

This has happened three times in the past 35 years, in 1976 to Gerald Ford, in 1980 to Jimmy Carter, and in 1992 to George H W Bush.

It is clear that the Libyan Civil War intervention complicates the economic and political scene in America, and creates potentially new defense, foreign policy, and national security issues for the short run and the long run!

The Turnover Coming: The Future Without Hillary Clinton And Robert Gates

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As we see the beginning of the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama, the President faces the daunting task of replacing his top two cabinet members in the crucial fields of foreign policy and defense.

Hillary Clinton has now made it clear that she does not wish to be Secretary of State in a second Obama term, and Robert Gates was making such a declaration long ago, and intends to leave late this year.

Both have been excellent and talented members of the Obama cabinet, and they will both be sorely missed, and their planned leaving presents major headaches for President Obama, at a time when the war in Afghanistan is not going well, and the nation is faced by massive overseas problems, including the unsettled situation in Libya with the civil war there raging, and the possibility of a no fly zone being declared by the United Nations and NATO, which would entail US participation; and also the shocking earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant crisis in Japan, the third leading economy in the world, which will have ripple effects on the American and world economy.

This President has had to deal with multiple problems beyond any that earlier Presidents have had to face, and now the quest for the best, most competent successors to Clinton and Gates must begin in earnest, and this on top of the massive number of other domestic issues and problems, and a full scale battle for the Presidency not far off!

Senator Lindsey Graham And Afghanistan: Horrible Advice! :(

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South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham yesterday suggested that the United States build and retain a permanent military presence on Afghan soil, and that we recognize the need for our involvement in that forsaken nation for the long run.

This suggestion comes upon evidence that the Afghanistan War is not going well, and that the struggle on the ground against the Taliban is deteriorating rapidly, and that the nation is being given “a bill of goods”, that is a bunch of lies, similar to what we were told in 1966 and 1967 about the Vietnam War!

Joe Scarborough on MSNBC this morning made it clear that he had strong doubts about the wisdom of such a commitment, and being a former conservative Republican Congressman from north Florida, his words ring with brilliance.

As has been stated before on this blog, it is time for the nation and President Obama to stop manipulating the truth, and face the reality that Afghanistan is a lost cause, that NATO allies are rapidly leaving, and that we cannot afford a permanent presence, when we are rapidly losing our economic supremacy in the world.

Instead of talk about cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, health care, the environment, and other essential domestic needs, the way to cut spending dramatically is to leave Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as possible, and stop unsustainable military adventures!

Otherwise, we are on the road to destruction, and the decline of what many are now calling the American Empire! 🙁

Will “Permanent War” Lead To Decline Of America As A Superpower? :(

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A retired colonel in the US Army, Andrew Bacevich, has written an important book about perpetual war, which makes one realize that such a situation, as we have now in Afghanistan, and with continued involvement in Iraq, and now possibly a war in Korea renewed, is a tragic situation which will lead to the downfall of the United States as a superpower! 🙁

Bacevich, a former West Point instructor, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a professor of international relations at Boston University, has published a book about the Vietnam War and the opposition, at the time, of Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman.

Bacevich utilizes this book on Fulbright to point out that we now have a situation that is being made permanent with the unwillingness of President Barack Obama to decide to withdraw from a war in Afghanistan which cannot be won, is bleeding our economy, and preventing us from dealing with the domestic crisis we face as a nation since the collapse of Wall Street in 2008! 🙁

Pointing out that we spend $700 billion per year on defense, more than all of the other nations of the world combined, Bacevich warns that we are going down the road of disaster, and that Obama is caving in to the defense establishment by continuing the involvement in Afghanistan at a time when many NATO nations are cutting back, and others, such as Great Britain, are making clear their limits on future commitment!

Bacevich asserts that we need to rebuild our own society, and that we cannot afford the financial cost for “permanent” war, and have limits on troops available for constant warfare! We cannot be global policemen, and occupy dozens of countries with our military so many years after World War II and Korea! Bacevich concludes that the Founding Fathers would be shocked to see us as much involved overseas as we are now in the 21st century! 🙁

Of course, others come out in support of what our government is doing, and call Bacevich an old style isolationist, but when one realizes that a great portion of our national debt has been for war and defense, and that we are hemorrhaging so much funding for the military at a time of desperation at home, Bacevich just seems to make a lot of sense, and causes one to have to sit and reflect on his message in a serious manner! 🙁

Barack Obama, The START Treaty, And The Senate Republicans: Politics In The Offing? :(

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The Russians and the United States have negotiated a new START Treaty to lessen the danger of nuclear weapons spread, and to verify that each side is keeping the agreement to cut down nuclear stockpiles.

This is a good agreement to cut nuclear weapons stockpiles by thirty percent over seven years, and six former Secretaries of State–three Republicans and three Democrats–have supported ratification of the treaty, which requires a two thirds vote of the Senate!

Leaders of NATO, the national security community and the Joint Chiefs of Staff also support the treaty, but it seems as if the Republicans in the Senate are determined to delay a vote to next year, when there will be six more Republicans in the Senate! 🙁

Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona seems to be the key figure involved in negotiations with the Obama Administration on the treaty, and it seems doubtful that, in the crowded congressional agenda in the lame duck session, that the treaty will get a full hearing and a positive vote, which could endanger US-Russian relations in the long run!

This potential stalling and possible defeat of the treaty next year, if not this year, would come despite support of some GOP senators, including particularly Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, an acknowledged foreign policy expert who is highly respected in the Senate by all of his colleagues!

Should politics get in the way of an important treaty such as this? No, but what else is new? 🙁

Barack Obama And Afghanistan: Wrong Direction! :(

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President Obama is going the wrong direction on Afghanistan, and it could affect his re-election opportunities, as well as his historical reputation as President! 🙁

At the NATO summit in Portugal, the US government has made clear that while the summer of 2011 shall see the start of withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan, that combat will not end until 2014, and the President left it open that if the situation required it, we might see American combat troops beyond four years from now! 🙁

This is absolutely the WRONG thing to do, and it is interesting how many NATO nations are withdrawing their involvement, with the Netherlands and Canada already in the process of withdrawing, and Italy not far behind, and Great Britain making it clear that no later than 2014, they will withdraw their troops!

Already, American forces are over two thirds of all troops, and the percentage will be growing in the next four years!

The combat deaths are rising rapidly, and the expenses on the American budget are also rapidly adding to the national crisis over the deficit and the national debt!

For anyone to believe that NATO and the United States are somehow going to win in Afghanistan defies common sense and the history of that forsaken land!

Alexander the Great, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union failed to win in Afghanistan!

Do we really want our nation to be affected in the same negative fashion as what was visited on the old Soviet Union, leading to its economic and political collapse? 🙁

And does Barack Obama really want a left wing challenge from a Russ Feingold, a Michael Bloomberg, or someone else that will weaken his candidacy, and lead to a right wing Republican becoming President by default in the 2012 Presidential election? 🙁

It is clear that the American people want our sons and daughters to come home, as this constant warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan over this past decade has done great harm to American society and accomplished almost no progress, while killing and wounding thousands of the younger generation, with no results worth defending!:(

Year Ten Of The Afghanistan War Begins! :(

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The tenth year of the Afghanistan War begins today, and marks this war as the longest in American history! 🙁

What has nine years of fighting in that nation, which has never been overtaken by foreigners–including Alexander The Great, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union–accomplished?

The answer is NOTHING, except the loss of more than a thousand men, many thousands wounded, hundreds of billion of dollars invested in a war, which is nowhere near being won! 🙁

The Afghan government is corrupt, and is now negotiating with the enemy, the Taliban, and the danger of terrorism in European nations and the United States is heightened by NATO’s military campaigns, which are killing civilians and turning the mass of the population against the West!

This is a war that Barack Obama should be ending, but instead he is allowing conservatives and Republicans who are only too willing to waste money on foreign war but ignore domestic needs, to manipulate him so that he does not look weak!

Obama needs to take a strong stand and withdraw US forces in 2011 and 2012, and the opposition to such a move be damned!

So much needs to be done at home, and we need to secure our own borders and stop trying to conquer a nation that is impossible to take over and control with ground troops!

President Obama, on this ninth anniversary of this terrible war, it is time to bring the troops home!