Congress’s Sorry Dereliction of Its War Powers Duty Congress’s Sorry Dereliction of Its War Powers Duty
The founders would not have been shocked at the executive seeking to claim the war power, but they would be astounded at Congress voluntarily giving it up.
Sep 30, 2014 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Loneliest Pundits The Loneliest Pundits
The war whoops of the pundit class helped propel the nation into yet another doomed military adventure in the Middle East. Ghastly beheadings by a newly discovered enemy were the frightening flashpoint. The president ordered bombers aloft, and US munitions were once again pounding battlefields in Iraq—and, at the time of this writing, in Syria. The president promised to “degrade and destroy” ISIS. Here we go again, I thought. This is how modern America goes to war. When the superpower Goliath is challenged by sudden savagery, it has no choice but to respond with brute force. Or so we are told. Otherwise, America would no longer be a convincing Goliath. Citizens and members of the uniformed military are tired of war, but both in a sense are prisoners of the media-hyped hysteria that is the usual political reflex. Shoot first, ask questions later. While some commentators, like David Ignatius, have raised good questions about how this war will be fought, such questions do not address the larger question facing American warmaking. Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50! Among leading columnists, I have seen only two who are framing the American dilemma in a more straightforward way. Columnist Eugene Robinson is a lonely voice at The Washington Post arguing for a fundamental shift. He has no touchy-feely illusions about holding hands with jihadists. But he knows repression by military force ensures the cultural collision will get worse. “Political Islam cannot be bombed away,” Robinson wrote. “If it is not somehow allowed constructive expression, it will make itself heard, and felt, in more tragic ways.” Robinson is a liberal. The other columnist exploring similar terrain is Ross Douthat of The New York Times, a conservative. Douthat suggested a hybrid strategy of containment and attrition that avoids a larger war in Syria and backs away from the illusion that ground war leads to nation-building. “It does not traffic, in other words, in the fond illusions that we took with us into Iraq in 2003, and that hard experience should have disabused us of by now,” he wrote. “But some illusions are apparently just too powerful for America to shake.” Read Next: Peter Van Buren on the impossibility of victory in Iraq
Sep 24, 2014 / William Greider
Barbara Lee Was Right in 2001. She’s Still Right Now. Barbara Lee Was Right in 2001. She’s Still Right Now.
Tuesday the Congresswoman called for “a full congressional debate and vote on any military action, as required by the Constitution.”
Sep 24, 2014 / John Nichols
The Building Blocks of War The Building Blocks of War
Media fearmongering, political grandstanding and everything else you need to launch a new military mission.
Sep 22, 2014 / Tom Tomorrow
Obama’s Surrender to War Obama’s Surrender to War
The crisis in Iraq and Syria demands a political solution. Here are the key diplomatic steps needed to get there.
Sep 17, 2014 / The Editors
Who’s Paying the Pro-War Pundits? Who’s Paying the Pro-War Pundits?
Talking heads like former General Jack Keane are all over the news media fanning fears of IS. Shouldn’t the public know about their links to Pentagon contractors?
Sep 16, 2014 / Lee Fang
The Questions Congress Should Ask About Obama’s War on ISIS The Questions Congress Should Ask About Obama’s War on ISIS
More than two-dozen groups are calling on lawmakers to address serious gaps and inconsistencies in the president’s strategy.
Sep 16, 2014 / Zoë Carpenter
Obama Is Open to Ground Troops in Iraq, a Top General Says Obama Is Open to Ground Troops in Iraq, a Top General Says
US military officials outlined several scenarios ground troops could end up fighting in Iraq and said Obama hasn’t closed the door.
Sep 16, 2014 / George Zornick
Shouldn’t We Know More About the ‘Experts’ Urging Us to War? Shouldn’t We Know More About the ‘Experts’ Urging Us to War?
Appearing on Democracy Now! Monday morning, Lee Fang discussed "Who's Paying the Pro-War Pundits?"—his latest for The Nation.
Sep 15, 2014 / Lee Fang and Edward Hart
Is the War on ISIS Illegal? Is the War on ISIS Illegal?
The Obama administration’s legal justification for expanding military action in Iraq and Syria is hypocritical and based on tenuous logic.
Sep 11, 2014 / Zoë Carpenter