U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships steam in formation during their military manoeuvre exercise known as Keen Sword 15 in the sea south of Japan, in this November 19, 2014 handout provided by the U.S. Navy. REUTERS/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Chris Cavagnaro/U.S. Navy/Handout
Damon Linker, The Week: D.C.'s war madness
The past week has been an immensely clarifying — and profoundly demoralizing — one in American politics. It has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that the country's foreign policy establishment, along with its leading center-right and center-left politicians and pundits, are hopelessly, perhaps irredeemably, deluded about the role of the United States in the world.
From the start of the 2016 Republican primaries on down through Donald Trump's surprise electoral college victory, the transition, and the opening months of his administration, members of this foreign policy establishment and these leading politicians and pundits have been united in expressing dismay and alarm about Trump's lack of temperamental and intellectual fitness to serve as commander-in-chief. Yet the moment Trump gave the order to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase used in a chemical weapons attack a few days earlier, all was forgotten and forgiven. Finally Trump became president! Finally he put Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his place! Finally the U.S. showed it had moved beyond former President Barack Obama's reluctance to use military force!
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WNU editor: The U.S. foreign policy establishment with the support of the political establishment have always acted in what they believed was the right thing to do .... that their positions and reasons for why they must intervene are both moral and just .... and this in turn will strengthen and secure America's long term strategic interests. Unfortunately .... this policy and approach has been a disaster .... both for the U.S. and in the countries that the U.S. has intervened in. They say that the road to hell is always paved with good intentions. In the case of the U.S. .... I have always heard nothing but good intentions. But in practice .... hell in the countries where the U.S. military has intervened .... and hell for the U.S. families who have either lost a loved one, or who are dealing with a severely injured veteran. A new approach is desperately needed. Unfortunately .... I just do not see it .... and for those who are advocating it like Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (see previous post), derision and isolation.
