Tag: war

Afghans Suffering from ‘Long War’ Syndrome

Buck Banks

“It wasn’t crazy for President Biden and his national security team, including the Pentagon, to have imagined that the Afghan forces — with superior technology and manpower — could have done a much better job holding the Taliban at bay. … But senior U.S. officials are privately acknowledging that the Afghans appear psychologically defeated — and there was insufficient accounting for the psychological consequences of the long war.”

— Jonathan Swan

Trump Mulls Turning Over Afghanistan to Contractors

Buck Banks

5,500

“The White House is actively considering a bold plan to turn over a big chunk of the U.S. war in Afghanistan to private contractors in an effort to turn the tide in a stalemated war,” USA Today reports. “Under the proposal, 5,500 private contractors, primarily former Special Operations troops, would advise Afghan combat forces. The plan also includes a 90-plane private air force that would provide air support in the nearly 16-year-old war against Taliban insurgents.”

N.C. Congressional Candidate Suggests War with Mexico to Cure Illegal Immigration

Buck Banks

I will tell you if you have foreigners who are sneaking in with drug cartels to me that is a national threat. And if we got to go laser or blitz somebody with a couple of fighter jets for a little while to make our point, I don’t have a problem with that either. So yeah, whatever we need to do.

— North Carolina congressional candidate Mark Walker (R), suggesting war with Mexico might be a way to stop immigrants coming across the border, TPM reports.

Is Congress Abdicating Its War Powers to Obama?

Buck Banks

“There’s one power Congress has that it doesn’t want: The power to declare war. And that’s certainly so seven weeks before congressional elections.

— Bloomberg reports. “The House will vote today on an amendment that gives the administration the authority to train and equip Syrian rebels as part of President Barack Obama’s strategy for destroying Islamic State. But it is silent on whether the president can deploy U.S. forces in the region. Some say Congress is setting a dangerous precedent by abdicating its war powers.”

Rand Paul Labels Hillary Clinton a ‘War Hawk’

Buck Banks

I think that’s what scares the Democrats the most, is that in a general election, were I to run, there’s going to be a lot of independents and even some Democrats who say, ‘You know what? We are tired of war. We’re worried that Hillary Clinton will get us involved in another Middle Eastern war, because she’s so gung-ho.

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the Associated Press, labeling Hillary Clinton a “war hawk.”

Another School Hit in Gaza; Another Denial by Israel

Trish

6

Number of schools serving as shelters bombed in Gaza in three weeks of fighting. Israel, like Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Vladimir Putin in Russia, claims the hits were the result of “errant rocket fire” from the other side. The UN says it supplied the coordinates of the girls’ elementary school most recently hit to Israel 17 times. The United States agreed after the strike to send more ammunition to Israel, as the governments of Chile, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador withdrew their ambassadors to the country in protest of the civilian killing.