One thing I never hear about as a rationalization for "Police Actions" (Korea, Vietnam), is the effect of treaties and alliances on warfare.
Remember how WW1 started.
It was the result of "secret treaties" where a nation would declare war on one other country, not realizing it was declaring war on that country's allies, of which it was "unaware",
When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the United States was brought into war with Germany because of it's alliance with Japan, which it chose to honor.
If we had declared war on North Korea or North Vietnam, we may have been exposed to inadvertently declaring war on China, or Russia, or both.
Maybe I never hear about this because I'm totally out in left field about it.
Nonetheless, as everybody knows, we've gotten in the habit of letting presidents wage war without declarations of such by congress. We do however have congressional "approvals".
Resident Sotero is seeking such funding for battling ISIS.
Like a guy who doesn't want to fight, yelling to his friends, "Hold me back!".
The terms he's asking for, as you probably know, are such that the funding runs out after he leaves office and restrains him from putting boots on the ground.
Except for Special Forces. Special Forces are allowed. Probably because they wear moccasins or sneakers or such. Or a footwear technically not boots (Special Warfare Footwear?).
If someone is going to ask for war authorization money you would think that first they have to act like we are at war.
And if we were at war then Congress must declare it.
And once that war begins, it must be prosecuted like war, with victory being the end game.
If we were to go to war with Isis, the goal should not be to control the land or to hold the towns and cities.
I keep hearing you need boots on the ground to hold the land.
That's occupation.
The goal is to destroy the enemy which is Isis, and then leave.
Just as Hiroshima, Dresden, Nagasaki, I don't care about collateral damage.
Just shattering the enemy's will to harm us.
We have an opportunity with Isis accumulating in one place a target rich environment in which to destroy those who wish to destroy us and our allies.
This was part of the rationale for fighting them over there instead of over here, multiplied.
Oh, well.
Opportunities missed.
Elections have consequences,
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteIran's leader meets to address their "Congress" equivalent.
A well-placed 15Kt weapon solves a BUNCH of problems.
World opinion be damned.
In for a penny...
DeleteHe IS playing at war... He doesn't want to actually DO what needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteHe IS playing at war... He doesn't want to actually DO what needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteYep.
DeleteWe have the capacity to eliminate ISIS from the face of the earth, every last one of them, in 24 hours. If they were a truly existential threat such as were the Nazis and Imperial Japan, we would pull the trigger. But they are not even close to an existential threat, since they are relatively distant, don't have any meaningful manufacturing capability, and have not yet significantly affected US interests (Saudi oil fields), we'll huff and puff, rattle some sabers, and let it go at that.
ReplyDeleteI think the Sauds feel threatened...
Delete"Elections have consequences"
ReplyDeleteYes they do. My biggest challenge daily is to not hold those responsible for obama in complete and utter contempt. The majority know not what they do, and they are in my family, neighborhood and circle of friends. Sad how we have given away this once-great franchise of freedom to the world. Oops, off topic. We were talking about eliminating ISIS from the face of the Erf. I vote yes.
Educate, educate, educate.
DeleteAgreed. We could completely eliminate those Isis fighters & their supporters in a day, as others said here. But we won't, because Soetoro and his supporters don't care, or are actively cheering them on.
ReplyDeleteYou and NFO, Paul.
ReplyDelete"We have an opportunity with Isis accumulating in one place a target rich environment in which to destroy those who wish to destroy us and our allies.
ReplyDeleteThis was part of the rationale for fighting them over there instead of over here, multiplied."
And now we waited long enough to have ISIS take over some Libyan jets...isn't that just precious?
I do, however, hope against hope that Jordan starts bombing again and that Egypt hits HARD......we need those countries to step up so OUR MEDIA can't blame FOX :)
"We have an opportunity with Isis accumulating in one place a target rich environment in which to destroy those who wish to destroy us and our allies.
ReplyDeleteThis was part of the rationale for fighting them over there instead of over here, multiplied."
And now we waited long enough to have ISIS take over some Libyan jets...isn't that just precious?
I do, however, hope against hope that Jordan starts bombing again and that Egypt hits HARD......we need those countries to step up so OUR MEDIA can't blame FOX :)
Our anti-American media.
DeleteAmen, Ed. Elections do have consequences. Sad ones.
ReplyDelete