LF: US Senate Votes to Ensure America Remains at “Endless” War

Title: US Senate Votes to Ensure America Remains at “Endless” War
Source: Free Thought Project
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/endless-war-senate-vote/
Published: Sep 13, 2017
Author: Free Thought Project
Post Date: 2017-09-14 08:59:40 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 621
Comments: 10

Washington, D.C. — (RT) The US Senate has voted 61-36 to kill the amendment, proposed by Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) which would repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Senate can’t repeal the AUMF without replacing it with a new authorization, said Senator John McCain (R-Arizona).

“It would mean that we would immediately need to start winding down” US forces abroad, said Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), who also opposed Paul’s amendment.

Paul had vowed to delay the passage of the $700-billion dollar National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) if he didn’t get a vote on repealing the AUMF.

“We have been there for 16 years. It is time for [the wars] to end. It is time for Congress to vote on whether or not they should end,” Paul said on Monday.

The Kentucky Republican noted that his protest was for the soldiers, adding that “hypocrites” are happy to “pretend concern over our constitutional duty to declare war” but are happy to “block any vote on ending any of our 7 current wars.”

To fight the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group, the Trump administration relies on authorization for the use of military force that was approved by Congress in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

The measure was specifically designed to give the president powers to go after “those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.”

Last month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told lawmakers the 2001 authorization provides sufficient authority to wage war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Critics argue it’s a legal stretch at best, as the Islamic State group did not exist 16 years ago and that the US now uses the legislation to carry out military operations in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and other countries.

A separate authorization, which in 2002 approved the war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, is also still in force.

The War Powers Resolution, enacted in 1973, prohibits US troops from being sent into combat for more than 90 days unless Congress has approved authorization for military force.

The war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001 as a US response to the 9/11 attacks, is the longest war in US history.

We have 34,000 military personnel in Germany for over 70 years. We have 40,000 military personnel in Japan for over 70 years. We have 23,000 military personnel in South Korea for over 60 years.

We have 11,000 military personnel in Afghanistan, and they've been there for 16 years. Whoop-de-do.

Indeed, a brand new report from the United Nations finds that opium production is at an all-time high.

Yep. A trillion more to be spent, and many, many more lives to be shattered, limbs to lose, people to destroy.

Maybe you're right. Maybe we should just pack up and go home. Perhaps if we ignore the terrorists they'll go away.

Although, prior to 9/11, that's basically what we did and look what happened. So I'm thinkin' maybe we should stay awhile.

So instead we've got to commit to forever war, forever expense, and eventual loss.

Government can do what it wants - obviously it isn't going to listen to me. But you can't expect me to support it if it does things contrary to what I think is right and prudent.

I'm reminded of the Soviet Union. They had their reasons to do what they did too. But at the end of the day, it broke them.

In the last days of April 1975 thousands of people were airlifted out of Vietnam

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head

Ah. So you want to duplicate that proud moment in American history. By the way, which U.S. buildings did North Vietnamese terrorists fly into?

“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul

Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head