Troll bait for all the fake prog-libs who secretly luv war > > A Bipartisan Vote to Put the Brakes on War > > By putting such a sinister face on it, Trump might have finally > inspired lawmakers to rein in America’s post-9/11 war machine. > > By Peter Certo > > "One of the few things I recall fondly about the Trump campaign — a > short list, I’ll admit — was the candidate’s apparent glee in > ridiculing the war-mongering of his rivals and predecessors. > > In early 2016, Trump (correctly) summed up George W. Bush’s legacy > this way: “We’ve been in the Middle East for 15 years, and we haven’t > won anything.”He ridiculed Hillary Clinton for being “trigger happy” — > no standard-issue gibe from a guy who also promised to bring torture > back — even while echoing progressive complaints that the $5 trillion > pricetag from Bush’s wars would’ve been better spent at home. > > And though Trump’s relationship with the Russians has since acquired > an unseemly cast, he once offered quite sensibly that “it’s better to > get along” with the world’s other nuclear-armed superpower than not to. > > Compared to his rivals, Politico magazine once mused, Trump was “going > Code Pink” on foreign policy. But what a rose-colored lie that turned > out to be. > > Since taking office, Trump’s turned virtually all use of force > decisions over to his generals. With the president’s backing, they’ve > ordered 4,000 new American troops back into Afghanistan, sent > thousands more to Iraq and Syria, and nearly quadrupled the rate of > drone strikes from the Obama administration, which was already quite > prolific. > > Everywhere they go, they’re escalating the brutality — and we still > haven’t won anything. > > They cratered Afghanistan with the largest non-nuclear bomb ever > dropped. They’ve stepped up support for the brutal Saudi-led bombing > of Yemen, where 11,000 have died and thousands more are at risk of > dying of hunger and cholera. Meanwhile they’ve brought civilian > casualties from our bombings in Iraq and Syria to record levels, > inflicting what the UN calls a “staggering loss of civilian life.” > > Things are about to get even more dangerous in Syria, as the Islamic > State falters and armed factions turn on each other to claim the > remains of its caliphate. > > Under Trump, U.S. troops have repeatedly attacked pro-Syrian forces — > a line Obama never crossed — in a misguided effort to bolster > Washington’s favorite rebels, many of whom are fighting each other. > That’s ratcheting up tensions with Syria’s allies, Iran and Russia, > endangering Obama’s hard-won diplomatic gains with Iran and even > leading Russia to threaten to shoot down American planes. > > For Trump, a president lampooned as a puppet of Putin, blundering into > conflict with Russia over an empty corner of eastern Syria should be > an embarrassing prospect. But Trump seems blithely unaware of the > whole thing. > > While Trump may be uniquely prone to careless belligerence, the > problem is plainly bipartisan: He’s mostly just adding ghastly > additions to a war scaffolding the Obama and Bush administrations > built before him. > > One possible solution? Revoke the congressional war authorization > passed after 9/11, which gave the president authority to track down > the perpetrators of those attacks. There were 19 hijackers that day, > but that law’s been abused to justify military action 37 times in 14 > countries, the Congressional Research Service calculates. > > Stunningly, on June 29, the House Appropriations committee > overwhelmingly approved an amendment from Rep. Barbara Lee to revoke > that authority..." >
In full with links http://otherwords.org/a-bipartisan-vote-to-put-the-brakes-on-war/