Just three days after RPI Chairman Ron Paul Tweeted that the US elections would result in more war in the Middle East, President Obama today announced that he would be sending 1,500 more troops into Iraq. This will bring the total to over 3,000 US troops in an undeclared and unauthorized deployment. It was just September when President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry swore that no US ground troops would be sent to Iraq. Did anyone believe them?
Any argument that these troops are not “combat” troops is disingenuous, as any troops sent into a combat zone are combat troops. Fifty years ago this week, then-Defense Secretary McNamara similarly vowed that no US combat troops would be sent into Vietnam. The 58k dead Americans and millions of dead Vietnamese can attest to the hollowness of such promises.
After Dr. Paul tweeted that the Republican victory Tuesday would result in more neocon wars and even boots on the ground in Iraq, neocon godfather Bill Kristol hopefully agreed, “I think Ron Paul told the truth,” Kristol said on Wednesday.
The only surprise is how soon they were to be proven correct.
In addition to doubling US troop presence in Iraq, the US president also asked Congress for $5.6 billion more dollars to continue funding his escalating Middle East war. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel warned us at the end of last month that we must get used to the idea of “endless war,” and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also said recently that this will be another 30 year war. With billions already spent, this additional five billion will be just a drop in the ocean.
There are those who have argued — persuasively, it must be admitted — that a Congressional vote to fund a presidential war is tantamount to an authorization for the use of force. Though this is a far lower level of approval than the US Constitutional requires, it should assign a level of Congressional culpability to the US military action that follows.
The point may soon be moot, however, as President Obama is said to be preparing to request the US Congress to authorize Iraq War III — a new US ground attack on the region. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is said to be enthusiastically in favor of the move, so it will have little trouble passing.
Politicians like McConnell are desperate to re-write post-9/11 history. Not only did Senator McConnell support the 2003 US attack on Iraq, he supported the US troop surge in 2007 which created conditions on the ground in Iraq that led to the creation of ISIS in the first place. Undaunted by his twin failures, McConnell is poised to do an own-goal hat trick when he approves yet another US debacle in the region.
One thing cannot be denied: President Obama’s war in Iraq and Syria has barely gotten underway. Escalations will continue. The foolish crusade will be given a shot in the arm when crazed warhawk John McCain takes control of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the incoming class of Republican neocons assume control of the Senate in just over two months’ time.
