Where Are The Liberal Hawks?

Liberal Hawks Were Vocal On Involvement In Iraq But Have Been Quiet On Syria -- Washington Post

For interests on both sides of Syria’s civil war, this has been the week to increase the pressure. Hezbollah sent reinforcements to the troops of President Bashar al-Assad, and Russia reiterated its intention to furnish the regime with weapons. At the same time, Republican Sen. John McCain secretly visited rebels and promised to push the Obama administration to arm the retreating forces. The European Union allowed its weapons embargo to lapse as nations such as Britain and France appear increasingly eager to aid the opposition fighters.

But amid the burst in outside engagement, one influential group seems noticeably silent. The liberal hawks, a cast of prominent left-leaning intellectuals, played high-profile roles in advocating for American military intervention on foreign soil — whether for regime change or to prevent humanitarian disasters. They pressured President Bill Clinton to intervene in Bosnia, provided intellectual cover on the left for President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq and urged President Obama to engage in Libya. But even as the body count edges toward 100,000 in Syria and reports of apparent chemical-weapons use by Assad, liberal advocates for interceding have been rare, spooked perhaps by the traumatic experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and the clear reluctance of a Democratic president to get mired in the Middle East. Call them Syria’s mourning doves.

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My Comment: Seth Mandel at Commentary has an interesting take on this Washington Post article. As to what is my take .... conservatives, liberals, independents .... everyone is fed up with hearing about continuous warfare .... and as a result everyone wants to open a new page. Unfortunately .... Al Qaeda and their offshoots are not listening .... and they never will.

When Did Syria's Chemical Weapons Become The "Red Line" For Intervention?

President Barack Obama talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, April 26, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

When Did Chemical Weapons Become Red Line For U.S.? -- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel says the U.S. now believes with some confidence that the Bashar al-Assad regime used small amounts of chemical weapons against rebel forces. Earlier this week Israeli intelligence had also said it believed al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons, and the United Kingdom and France have both said they had strong suspicions.

This is significant because President Barack Obama declared back in August that the U.S. had “communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region” that chemical weapons are “a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly.” He and his administration have repeated this message on numerous occasions in the months since.

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My Comment: I remembered the same debate before the 2003 Iraq invasion .... and some my colleagues asked the same question then .... "should Iraq's WMDs become the red line for intervention". It seems we are repeating history .... but I am still hopeful that the President Obama will not repeat that history.

Update: It appears that this is going to be the next course of action from the U.S..

When Should America Intervene In A Sovereign Country

Air Assault Mission - As seen through a night-vision device, U.S. Army paratroopers and Afghan soldiers travel aboard a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during an air assault mission in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, May 4, 2012. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod

Mali And The Conundrum Of U.S. Military Interventions -- Robert Nolan, US News & World Report

Perhaps no issue has dominated discussion of U.S. foreign policy over the past decade more than military intervention. When should America intervene in a sovereign country to protect its interests and values, and when should it stand on the sidelines?

The "Intervention Calculation" will be front and center during the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings for President Obama's nominees for top cabinet positions at the Departments of Defense and State and at the CIA. It will continue to play out in the policy debate over preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. And new forms of intervention—primarily through the use of unmanned drones, but also through computer networks—will be thoroughly examined in the coming year through lenses legal, moral, and strategic, as the use of such technology moves forward at breakneck speed and little in the way of international norms.

But today, there is the question of Mali.

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My Comment: A good summary on what are the conditions that must be met for US intervention in a foreign country. A policy that I suspect will become more and more difficult as America's debt/financial crisis eats away at it's ability to project power and influence in foreign lands.

The American Way Of War Is Not Working

U.S. Army Spc. Kaleb Propst provides security overwatch at a meeting for leaders at a Bala Boluk district building in Afghanistan's Farah province, Jan. 2, 2013. Propst is a security force team member for Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah, which trains, advises and assists Afghan government leaders at the municipal, district, and provincial levels in Farah province. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Matthew Stroup

The American Way Of War -- Alan Caruba, Theo Spark

The U.S. military has been in Afghanistan since shortly after September 11, 2001. That’s eleven years and it is longer than the time spent in Vietnam, though with less casualties. We invaded Iraq twice, once to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait after he invaded in 1990 and then, in 2003 to depose him in the hope of bringing “democracy” to that nation. After the 2005 elections, Iraq was eager to see us leave, but many observers say it is as wracked with violence today as it was during our occupation.

The American way of war is not working and has not been working since the 1970s.
Armies are not intended to be “nation building” forces. Their job is to kill the enemy and break things until a threat to our national security is ended. We did that during World War II, fighting it in two theatres, Europe and Asia. We won because we inflicted an enormous amount of damage in both theatres of war in just four year’s time.

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My Comment: Nation building has always been (at least in my life time) a significant part of the culture and mindset of American society when it comes to helping countries in need. If there is a disaster in any part of the world .... the Americans are usually the first foreigners to arrive .... always filled with aid and assistance to a grateful people. But if the past decade has taught us anything it is that conducting war and nation building at the same time does not work .... and if anything may aggravate a bad situation into something even worse. We should have left Iraq after Saddam Hussein was captured .... we should have left Afghanistan after Osama bin Laden was killed .... but we choose to stay .... making me wonder if our present day conflicts are more about commerce (i.e. hiring contractors and supplying our soldiers and allies with the essentials) than being focused on our own national security. In short .... we need a major rethink on what are we doing in some of the trouble spots around the world .... and in view of our dire financial and debt situation .... we better do it fast.

The Fiscal Cliff Will End The Era Of The U.S. As A Superpower

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan travels through the Pacific Ocean with other ships assigned to the Rim of the Pacific 2010 exercise, north of Hawaii, July 24, 2010. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Dylan McCord

America's Superpower Status Goes Over the Fiscal Cliff -- Mackenzie Eaglen, Aol Defense

As our 2013 forecast series continues, American Enterprise Institute scholar and frequent AOL contributor MacKenzie Eaglen takes a grim look at the strategic consequences of the fiscal cliff. (Click here for the full series of forecasts so far).

The nation is heading over the fiscal cliff, an economic triple threat -- tax hikes, spending cuts, and, soon thereafter, the debt limit -- that has been forecasted by government agencies to throw us back into recession. Fix that, and government funding may still run out in March when the current continuing resolution expires, since Congress never got around to passing the 2013 appropriations bills. Tasked with solving these successive crises is the same President and, with modest changes, the same status quo Congress that failed to fix them last year. It's exhausting, living constantly on the edge.

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My Comment: The death of the U.S. military 's long-standing 'two-war construct' was more than enough proof to me that the days of the U.S. as a super power were coming to an end. With massive budget cuts on the horizon, the question now becomes .... how much of the military is going to be left when everything is cut, and will we be able to have the resources to fight a 'one-war construct' and still be able to win.

Is This The Obama War Doctrine?

President Barack Obama makes Thanksgiving Day phone calls to U.S. troops from the Oval Office, Nov. 24, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Decade Of War To Come -- Nick Turse, Al Jazeera

War, in the form of proxies, drones and special ops, has accelerated around the globe under the Obama administration.

New York, NY - "In operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, a failure to recognise, acknowledge and accurately define the operational environment led to a mismatch between forces, capabilities, missions and goals," reads a new draft report by the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

In Decade of War: Enduring Lessons from the Past Decade of Operations, the authors admit to failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and lay out a series of lessons for the future, including more effective efforts aimed at winning hearts and minds, integrating regular troops and special operations forces, coordination with other government agencies, coalition operations, partnering with the forces of host-nations and paying greater attention to the use of proxy forces.

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My Comment: Could not have said it any better .... and what is remarkable about this war/military trend is that there has been no debate or discussion in Congress, the media, academia, and/or anyone else in the defense establishment on where is all of this going.

Is America Ready For The Next War?

U.S. Army Capt. Tyler Vest, center, speaks with an Afghan soldier while U.S. Army Spc. Andrew Noonan looks on as they finish a combined patrol clearing operation in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, April 30, 2012. Vest and Noonan are assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod

The Next War -- Douglas A. Ollivant and Radha Iyengar, Foreign Policy

Americans are fooling themselves if they think the era of adventures abroad is over. In fact, another big international intervention is just around the corner. And we're not nearly ready for it.

U.S. President Barack Obama's recent speech during his surprise visit to Afghanistan on May 1 said it all: "Our goal is not to build a country in America's image or to eradicate every vestige of the Taliban. These objectives would require many more years, many more dollars, and most importantly, many more American lives." This extraordinary statement is one that those involved in U.S. foreign policy have heard many times before: The era of big interventions is over. It's a tried-and-true narrative, and today, the argument goes something like this: The combination of significant war fatigue and coming defense cuts makes it unlikely that the United States will muster the political will or economic resources to sustain another large-scale military effort. The invasion, occupation, and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan will almost certainly be seen as aberrations permitted by the post-9/11 environment, or so the thinking goes.

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My Comment: America is definitely not ready for the next war .... more to the point .... the political will and public support is definitely not there. Short of another 9/11 event, I have doubts that the U.S. will undergo a major military operation in the foreseeable future .... even to prevent genocide and/or bring stability to a country that is facing famine from war or a similar disaster.

No-One Is Talking About America`s Wars -- A Commentary

U.S. Army Capt. Brad Vance, upper left, addresses soldiers after they received their 172 Infantry Brigade combat patches on Observation Post 1 above Forward Operating Base Tillman, Afghanistan, Sept. 11, 2011. Vance is commander of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade. U.S. Army photo by Ken Scar

The Wars America Doesn't Talk About -- Foreign Policy

A disturbing triumphalism over the Libya intervention has emerged amid the conspiracy of silence over the bloody mess in Afghanistan.

Last month was the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in the ten years of the war there, with 67 killed, nearly half of them Navy SEALs in the downing of a Chinook helicopter -- the deadliest single incident in this, the longest war in American history. More promisingly, it was also the first month since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 that not a single U.S. soldier was killed there.

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My Comment: If it was a conscript military .... and not a volunteer one .... the wars that America is fighting in will be discussed non-stop back home.

Are Americans Living In An Era Of Endless War -- A Commentary

A Decade After The 9/11 Attacks, Americans Live In An Era Of Endless War -- Greg Jaffe, Washington Post

This is the American era of endless war.



To grasp its sweep, it helps to visit Fort Campbell, Ky., where the Army will soon open a $31 million complex for wounded troops and those whose bodies are breaking down after a decade of deployments.



The Warrior Transition Battalion complex boasts the only four-story structure on the base, which at 105,000 acres is more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. The imposing brick-and-glass building towers over architecture from earlier wars.



“This unit will be around as long as the Army is around,” said Lt. Col. Bill Howard, the battalion commander.



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My Comment: What is my take .... we may be in an "endless war", but with the exception of our tax dollars and those families who have love ones in the military/intelligence services .... this "endless war" is having zero if any impact on the majority of Americans.

Why We Say We Fight (Reflecting On The Rhetoric Of Past U.S. Presidents

President Obama

Why We Say We Fight: Presidents From The Founders To Obama Justify War -- Washington Post

Why does America fight? Throughout history, presidents have taken their case for military action to the public. On Monday, it was President Obama’s turn, as he made his pitch for the intervention in Libya. “Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries,” he declared at the National Defense University. “The United States is different. And as president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”

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