The Rule of Law, Revisited?

The plot thickens.

"On Wednesday, 74 days after U.S. forces joined the military operation in Libya, President Obama seemed to run out of goodwill on Capitol Hill. A group of both liberals and conservatives — defying the leaders of both parties — threw their support behind a bill to pull the U.S. military out of the Libya operation. That prospect led GOP leaders to shelve the bill before it came to a vote."

Before everyone gets all sweaty, I already assume that the usual Washington Rules - that is to say, that if the President (or Congress, or other "real" people inside the Beltway as opposed to the stinky unwashed masses in the hustings) does it, it's not illegal - will apply in the end, however.

But it's interesting to note that even in the Escurial, if you do a half-assed job of explaining why your nation needs to get involved in other people's civil wars, you might just get a sharp lecture from the other hidalgos before getting back to business as usual.

Mind you, I have full faith and confidence that the Powers that Are Along the Potomac will prevent this outbreak of lawfulness from interfering in the smooth, water-off-a-cat's-ass business of meddling abroad whilst fiddling at home, enriching those who deserve riches and empowering those who deserve power, and, besides, this nonsense is distracting us from finding out more about Tony Weiner's dick.

Greenwald has more.

A Nation of Men

Noted in passing: today is the "60th day" since the formal announcement that U.S. armed forces were involved in the civil war in Libya. Other than a handful of GOP senators neither the Congress nor the White House appears to be concerned about missing the deadline for a Congressional approval of the escapade required under 50 U.S.C. 1541-1548.

The U.S. right has always scorned the "War Powers Resolution". Now the circle is complete, and the U.S. "left" (whatever there is of it represented in the corridors of power) shows its disregard that the People in Congress have any business interfering in foreign military policy.

What was that? A nation of laws?

Where ever did you hear THAT nonsense..?

Men at Work

While the world watches Japan and Libya, the daily business of war in central Asia grinds on. Good glimpse of it here, from David Axe at Danger Room.Every day I'm amazed and humbled that we have young men and women ready to do our country's bidding in the hard and unforgiving places without protest or demur. Regardless of what you believe about their mission, there is no mistaking their quality.

Lost in Kandahar

Not much to say that hasn't been said about this, except that it seems vastly frustrating to me to read stuff like this and wonder "Didn't we go down this road once already? Didn't my platoon sergeants remind me that "...the locals are always friendly to the guys with the guns..."? because they'd walked through the ville full of smiling kids and nodding mama-sans and caught booby-trap hell on the way back? When the hell did we forget all this stuff?This story is already all over the web; here's one take on it, and here's another.

The really irritating thing I got from reading this is what Foust calls the "America Good!" syndrome. I ran into it awhile back on a blog called something like "Great Satan's Girlfriend", where the blogger was all up in everyone's grille about what great things our country does beyond the Jersey shore and how dare the filthy unwashed savages like the French and the Democrats question the purity of our precious bodily fluids.

While I yield to no one in my delight in the things my country has done well, there is no doubt that it has done some things in foreign lands exceptionally badly. Liberty and justice at home are no guarantee of decent behavior abroad; go visit the nice people in Brussels and then read about the nightmare that was the Belgian Congo. The Huns were probably wonderful husbands and fathers, too. We're all of us humans capable of horrific barbarity to those not in our tribe; it's not an American failing, it's a human failing and having a lovely Constitution and lots of indoor plumbing doesn't make us any less human...What MAKES this frustrating is that it's not a difficult fix. It's not like there's some massive, structural problem standing in the way of a U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East and central Asia that makes some coherent sense. The realities of global power and that subset of power called imperial war are fairly straightforward - people have been doing it since Ramses' day, after all. The difficulties creep in when you insist on seeing not what is, not what you want in honest terms, but what you want it to be and what you pretend to desire.

Snooping and Pooping

Not sure how I missed this back in May:

"The secret directive, signed in September by Gen. David H. Petraeus, authorizes the sending of American Special Operations troops to both friendly and hostile nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to gather intelligence and build ties with local forces. Officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate."

Now I don't know about you, but if I were to catch foreign soldiers sneaking about my country gathering intel I'd

1. treat them as spies and hang them, or

2. treat them as invaders and their actions as an act of war.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a sergeant so I loves me some war. But if we're sending troops into other nations without their consent shouldn't this be something that comes from the National Command Authority and not from some shoulder-strap MACOM commander? Am I way off base here? Help me out, you ConLaw freaks and Small Wars types; wassup?