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The Slippery Slope of War
By maudeaster on 2011-07-08 07:43:01
How easy it seems these days to start a war! But why is it so easy for the US start down the slippery slope to a long and
expensive war? I’d suggest 3 factors, all crying out for our efforts to change this very frightening foreign policy direction:
#1.The very definition of war is being altered in an effort to make it much easier for the US to opt quickly for
Pentagon/CIA action, rather than shifting resources to prepare ourselves in advance for adequately resourced diplomacy and
development solutions. A glaring case in point: the US administration’s efforts to rename US military activities in Libya as
“hostilities” not war — trying to prevent Congress from its legal and constitutional role of deciding on the grave step of
committing US military forces to conflict. Thankfully, many in Congress, Republicans and Democrats, including our
Congressman Paul Tonko, are challenging this avoidance of the War Powers Act, raising questions about the wisdom of
embroiling the US in a civil war, the rush to NATO bombing which kept the UN and African Union from reaching Libya to
try to prevent conflict through negotiations, and the illegality of US/NATO actions - beyond the UN mandate - to get rid of
Kaddafi, even including assassination attempts. #2. With the exception of Libya, the US’s other, rapidly proliferating
undeclared wars are almost unchallenged by Congress or the media, so it’s easy for the US to get deeply involved
before we even notice. Think Pakistan, Yemen, and now Somalia. For years US airstrikes and special operations forces have
been stoking anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and undermining the very civilian government we criticize as being too
weak. Most recently, Pakistan has ordered an end to American civilian casualty-causing drone strikes and ordered us to close
a base related to their activities. The US has had the temerity to refuse this sovereign request from a country on which we
have not declared war and, in recent days, has really ratcheted up the rhetoric against Pakistan. Where will this end? In
another multi-billion dollar, lengthy war, this time with Pakistan? What about our recent stepped up special ops and drone
activities in Yemen and Somalia? #3. Drones make warfare seem so painless. When a drone operator sits a base in New
York State, pushes a button and people die in Yemen, it’s being sold to us as not really war because we don’t have “boots on
the ground” and, while easier on the American soldier than going into combat, it’s no less deadly to the people on the other
end of the drone’s path. This game-boy approach to warfare actually has huge costs. The seemingly inevitable civilian
deaths pile up weekly wherever we are using remotely targeted drones. Pentagon regrets don’t restore those lives and those
families. Apologies don’t help needs of refugees fleeing from areas where hovering drones sow fear. The hatred against the
US that drones provoke is every bit as strong as that caused by American soldiers raiding homes at night, but our policy
makers don’t seem to have started thinking about it that way yet. We know the enormous cost of wars. And we only have to
look at Afghanistan to know how hard it seems for the US to decide to really bring a war, however hopeless, to an end. Look
at the latest “withdrawal” plan which actually stretches out the killing of Afghans and US soldiers for at least another 3 '4
half years, despite the fact that most analysts - and the American public — realize that ending this war will require the same
step now or then, a negotiated settlement among all parties including the Taliban. When we make foreign policy mistakes we
should learn from them for the future. Now that we know the cost to us all of Afghanistan and Iraq, it’s well past time for a
national debate on what constitutes a war, on the legality of undeclared wars, and the real costs of remote control drone
warfare. Maybe if we face honestly what the US military and CIA are up to we can avoid sliding into future budget-
breaking, enemy-making conflicts.
