I saw a bumper sticker today that said, “I Love Sarah”. I assumed it meant Sarah Palin and not Sarah Jessica Parker, but I can’t be sure. Last month Palin was echoing Ron Paul on the role of the Federal Reserve in America’s economic crisis. I encouraged her (not that she gives one moose about what I think) to echo Ron Paul on foreign policy as well.
Yesterday it became quite clear that she was never in danger of becoming a foreign policy non-interventionist like Paul.
Palin published a note on her Facebook page Tuesday that encourages President Barack Obama to grant a request for the tens of thousands of additional troops reportedly requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in the country.
“Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision,” Palin wrote on the site. “It is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan.”
Noting the possible consequences of not helping to build up Afghanistan’s institutions, the former Alaska governor also wholeheartedly endorsed McChrystal’s counterinsurgency approach to continued U.S. military presence in the country.
“We can win in Afghanistan by helping the Afghans build a stable representative state able to defend itself. And we must do what it takes to prevail. The stakes are very high. The 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, and if we are not successful there, al Qaeda will once again find a safe haven, the Taliban will impose its cruelty on the Afghan people, and Pakistan will be less stable.”
She is just confirming that she never was and never will be a libertarian, especially when it comes to foreign policy. Don’t let the new designation (or Eric Dondero) fool you. The Palin-Cons are the same old Neo-Cons.
It is certainly true that Glenn Beck has been a rather vocal “warmonger” when it comes to America’s interventionism overseas. I made a comment during Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign that Beck and Paul are in 100% agreement when it comes to economics, but Beck had some work to do in order to “come around” to Ron Paul’s non-interventionist foreign policy views.
While Beck may not be there yet, there is a noticeable difference in his rhetoric when it comes to foreign policy and war. This could certainly be attributed to the fact that Obama is now in the White House instead of George W. Bush who used to get endless praise from Beck on foreign policy. Or is this evidence of a core transformation in Beck toward a more non-interventionist approach?
I shamefully admit that I once supported an interventionist foreign policy but that has changed over time as I investigated and became more informed on the issue. It took months, not days. Could Beck be going through a similar transformation? Only time, and maybe another Republican President will tell.
Does it really matter what Glenn Beck thinks? I argue that it does. He has some of the highest ratings of all the political talk shows. Like it or not many people care what he says and thinks. If Beck can make the transition to non-intervention then any formerly devout neo-conservative can too. Don’t shun them with charges of distrust. Welcome them and help them along their path.
For evidence of the Beck transformation-in-process I submit the video below.
Hard facts. 150 countries. 380,000+ soldiers abroad. Over 46,000 veteran suicides and 5,100+ combat troops dead during the War of Terror.
“If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and see further than other countries into the future…” – Madeleine Albright while serving as Secretary of State, 1998
As I wrote earlier this year, one of the sticking points I encounter in conversation is when someone challenges me that America does not have, as I allege, a military empire. However, they never seem to be able to rattle off any facts or statistics to the contrary. This updated article is my attempt to document those facts. The Department of Defense last issued information on troop deployment in March 2009. (photo)
There are 194 states in the world, so therefore we have troops in 77% of all countries on the planet.
The size of America’s armed forces is 1,412,529 soldiers.
380,011 of these troops, or 27% are stationed on land overseas. (Included in this figure is an estimate 25,000 in South Korea.) 16% of our troops are engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
54,043 soldiers are based in Germany, although WWII ended 64 years ago.
34,544 soldiers are based in Japan, although WWII ended 64 years ago.
Although figures were not available (and reported as zero), 24,655 soldiers were reported last quarter as based in South Korea as technically this “police action” that resulted in the deaths of 36,516 Americans and the wounding of 92,134. In my opinion, the greatest barrier to peace with North Korea is the presence of these soldiers.
We have only 15 troops and 0 bases in Vietnam, and get along with their nation fairly well, considering 58,159 were killed and 303,635 wounded during that “police action.”
America’s DoD is “one of the world’s largest “landlords” possessing 545,714 buildings, 5,429 bases, spanning 29.8 million acres of land. (p3/205)
761 bases, or 14%, are located on foreign soil. (p23/205)
12 of the 111 bases designated as “large” are located on foreign soil. (p33/205)
However, reading the remainder of the report reveals that bases in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Israel are not listed, so both number of bases and “large” bases are too low.
Over 5,100 soldiers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan for the War of Terror. (source)
Furthermore, CBS and the military revealed that 18 veterans commit suicide per day during the 8-year Global War on Terror, resulting in an estimated 46,000 deaths. (source)
I was thinking about the recent news regarding the agreement between Obama and Medvedev on reductions in nuclear warheads and missiles. How does this coincide with a Libertarian frame of mind?
So afraid was I that I’d fall into that tired Republican claptrap about a “weak America” that at first, my reaction was, “Great! We and Russia can lead by example in reducing our nuclear arms, hopefully lending other nations to relax their nuclear programs.” But was that reaction correct?
As Libertarians, we take the Constitution seriously. We understand the importance of the Second Amendment:
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
But does this apply to our government and the protection of us as a nation? I thought I might find a rebuttal in Article I, Section 8 somewhere, regarding standing armies and such, but none of those apply, in my opinion.
Quotes of the Day: “The Democrats’ failure to pass a troop funding bill that will actually get our armed forces the money they need is nothing less than a disgrace.” — House Minority Leader John Boehner, June, 2008
“It’s going to be an interesting fall as Republicans try to explain their vote against legislation that they’ve described as funding for our troops in a time of war, because I’m confident their constituents will be reminded.” – a White House Official, June 2009
The Democrats are pro-war, the Republicans anti-war.
But when the Senate got their hands on it they added still more unrelated items . . .
* Funnelling billions of dollars to a failed, neo-colonial (i.e. “foreign aid”) scheme called the International Monetary Fund
* The Graham-Lieberman measure, an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act to continue the coverup of the detainee abuse scandal
House Republicans wanted the IMF provisions stripped from the final bill, and the detainee abuse coverup retained. Instead, they got the exact opposite of what they wanted, and so they voted no, even though this meant they would not be “supporting the troops.”
It’s funny. Four years ago, Republicans supported the bill to “support the troops” even when Real ID was attached. Last year, they voted to “support the troops” even though the Democrats added $95 billion in domestic pork spending to it.
Why the change of heart now? Probably because a Democrat’s in the White House. It’s not “their” war anymore. As our quotes of the day demonstrate, charges of hypocrisy are flying fast and furious, and will likely continue for some time. Read More »
Kathleen Wells: What are your thoughts on President Obama’s decision to release the torture memos?
Congressman Ron Paul: I think he is purely political. I think he has backed down on what he said. He was elected for change and it is the same old stuff and he is as much of a neo-con now as Bush was with this issue and other issues. The war has been expanded. He continues with not closing down Guantanamo. There is probably, for as most [sic] as we can tell, there is still secret rendition going on. We just moved some of this process overseas. We are not going to be aware of it in detail.
Kathleen Wells: You feel President Obama is a neo-con like Bush? You don’t see a distinction between the two administrations?
Congressman Ron Paul: The tone is different, but the policies don’t change. We are spreading the war. The war is expanding. We are not prosecuting those that committed torture. Guantanamo is not going to be closed down. So, no, I don’t see [a distinction between Bush and Obama].
He [Obama] increased the DOD [Department of Defense] budget. We surely could spend some of that money at home where people are really hurting. But we increased the DOD budget, I think, by 10-percent. I can’t see any significant change in foreign policy. The pretense in leaving Iraq was a mild pretense and I’m predicting that’s not going to happen. There are going to be troops in Iraq throughout this administration, I’m convinced.
That’s right people… It’s taken Barack Obama less than 6 months as President to prove beyond any doubt that the only change he represents is rhetorical. The honeymoon is over.
“The Republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it.” – Elmer Davis
by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution Originally published on Friday, June 5, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6510.html
On June 6, 1944, a flotilla of transports set out for the coast of Normandy. They would land at five beaches codenamed Sword, Juno, Omaha, Gold, and Utah. Some beachheads were established with minimum resistance. Some beachheads were established in blood and gore, like Omaha’s. (photo)
In operational military code, the day was D-Day and the time was H-Hour. The only difference was that this was THE D-Day. My message, if you care to receive it, is that today is also D-Day, a D-Day of a different flavor.
Our overlords are operating on the economy until it collapses. They are debasing our money supply until it is worthless.
Someone, somewhere is receiving the tax money paid for the broken business of AIG and Government Motors. All we know is that the international central bankers are behind the whole charade. Our Congress still doesn’t even support auditing the central bank, the Federal Reserve, yet.
They are frittering away the very civil liberties that our veterans cherished so much and fought so hard to protect. Many of our soldiers may still believe this today, but they have been misled.
Our enemies are not to be found in the racial and religious groups clashing in Iraq. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 or any other terrorist group. When we hurled our finest 150,000 troops at him, he had no air force, no navy, and pathetic shreds of an army. He had no weapons of mass destruction, although Pakistan, India, Russia, the USA, China, Israel and other obviously do.
In response to the Daily Telegraph’s release of its report on the prisoner photos, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs not only denied the accuracy of the report, but issued a rather peculiar statement about the British Press in general.
“If I wanted to read a write-up today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League cup, I might open up a British newspaper. If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I’m not sure it would be the first stack of clips I picked up… Again, I think if you do an even moderate Google search, you’re not going to find many of these newspapers and truth within, say, 25 words of each other.”
I’m not even really sure where he’s coming from on this one. The Daily Telegraph is not a British tabloid – it’s by all accounts a credible newspaper which has the largest circulation of any in the United Kingdom. Further, the report isn’t from an anonymous source – it quotes American Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who actually agrees with the Obama Administration when it comes to not releasing the photos, using their sensational nature as his justification. Is Gibbs really disputing the reporting of Taguba’s statements, or Taguba, the man who carried out the investigation of Abu Ghraib, himself?
On second thought, maybe I can see why he’d target the press.
Update: Was Gibbs right afterall? Taguba is now stating he never saw the photos in question, but rather was speaking generally about photos which have already been released, and was taken out of context.
Yesterday Michael Maresco began his trek across the U.S. on his bicycle. Along the way he will be meeting with and handing out literature to the local Sheriffs of America in an effort to hammer home the idea that they can make a difference fighting against the creeping fascism we are experiencing.
To symbolize this creeping fascism Michael is riding from the Statue of Liberty to Alcatraz. On this Memorial Day I’m remembering our fallen military individuals by being inspired by Michael’s “Ride For Honesty”. Ultimately both very different efforts are aimed at the same cause: The cause of freedom and defending the Constitution.
In fact, I feel Michael’s effort is more pure because it is untainted by the whims of power hungry politicians. I dream of a time when all wars are fought for the right reasons so that this holiday is fully untethered from the strands of regret. Bill Clinton said, “Abortions should be safe, legal, and rare.” Replace the word “abortions” with the word “wars” and you have a pretty good policy.
Check out Michael’s first day log and videos at The Ride For Honesty site: LibertyRider.com. Be inspired and maybe donate a bit of money to his effort.
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