That's what the author (check him out) of this piece in the LA Times strongly hopes:
U.S. foreign policy: War fever subsidesAs Americans weary of the mission in Afghanistan, Democrats and Republicans alike are raising serious questions about the nation's propensity for multiple, open-ended wars. Finally.
Update: Tom Ricks wonders, at his Best Defense blog, if the US can do some pretty Martian things without there actually being war:
Annals of Obama & national security (II): What are the politico-diplomatic consequences of the drone warfare era?...
Back in the old days, air strikes were considered an act of war. But the Obama Administration sez no -- and here I am beginning to change my mind. Maybe they are onto something. The drone strikes being conducted in those three countries are not being done to challenge those states, but to supplement the power of those states, to act when they cannot or will not. More importantly, these are precise strikes against certain individuals, making them more like police work than like classic military action. Police work involves small arms used precisely. Drones aren't pistols, but firing one Hellfire at a Land Rover is more like a police action than it is like a large-scale military offensive with artillery barrages, armored columns, and infantry assaults...
Sort of reminds one of Alexandria, 1882.
Maybe it is time for the US to let the world go to hell in a hand basket, let the wogs kill & murder the whackos, don't show up when disasters hit . . just say it is time for someone else to step up.
At the same tine let the world know that if attacked, America will retaliate by carpet bombing parts of the country where the attackers came from.
Too bad if some innocents get killed, c'est la guerre.
Let those parts of the world that are always complaining about America do without for awhile.
And stop paying for the UN . . . the US contribution should be on a per capita basis.
Let China pay for the Useless Nations Organization.
The problem the way I see it, isn't the Americans and their preventative philosophy regarding the world's security; the problem is the freeloaders that would demand America/Britain do the heavy lifting.
The bottom line is, the Americans and the Brits are exercising preventive measures by attempting to not allow the evil crazies a place to grow and fester. I'd argue that the cost of conducting these wars in their back yards is cheaper all things considered; as we must not worry about Jets flying into buildings today, but I digress.
Fred's suggestions sounds good on the surface, but we should know where apathy gets us.
IMO what we need it to renegotiate our defense alliances, re-allocate our resources and only work with countries that share our interests.
In the last 50+ years, old bedfellows are now at odds with each other, and former enemies are those we must depend on. GWB spoke clearly about this in his book, and on his speaking tour. I'll take the Japs over any number of old bedfellows any day.
The US is from Mars, and the President is from Venus?
Okay, okay will the real immigration aliens please stand up!
I see little difference from say a Seal Team of snipers infiltrating and doing a targeted assassination and that of a drone violating another country's airspace with a Hellfire missile.
Both will be construed as a policy of 'containment' rather than an 'act of war'.
The unstated assumption is that the US acts as the 'world's policeman'.
Of course the obverse has to be considered as well:
What if another nation's JTF2 type organization does a 'hit' on US soil, or sends in a lethal drone or shipping container? Would that then qualify as an 'act of war' or violation of sovereignty or merely be termed a 'policing action'?
It is likely the case that such actions are not considered "Gray Ops" but rather "Black Ops" with the parsing of 'plausible deniability'.
Thus 'war' is merely relabeled as a false flag 'policing action'.
I rather think that Clausewitz had it right the first time:
"War is the continuation of politics by other means"
This would of course dispense with the mellifluous parsing of excessive diplomacy.
Thus the bombing of Lybia has become a 'policing action' rather than an 'act of war'. Of course this all makes precious little difference to those who are 'doing the dying'. But of course if one is trying to avoid getting the approval of Congress for its continuation, this makes for deft avoidance of domestic considerations.
After all, politicians are those rare creatures that have not just a modicum of self interest also at stake. To wit the author himself notes:
"No doubt partisan calculation or personal ambition figure alongside matters of principle."
At least Bush had the gumption to take his acts of war to Congress; while the Obama-Nation(tm) seems somewhat reluctant to do so now that the 90 day window of a 'free pass for war' is over.
Perhaps one is to conclude that Pres. Obama does not truly believe in the rationale first offered.
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, C in C
1st St. Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North"
Very good comments Hans. Thanks!
I think it's fair to say, as far as politicans go, "I(we) love the way you lie".
Then I guess we can surgically hit all those Taliban strongholds in Pakistan...all the time from now on...
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2011/06/28/bts.libya.senate.foreign.relations.cnn
@ Indiana: for further 'amusement' check out this sorry presentation in front of the Senate today...
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, C in C
1st St. Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North"
Liberals never change. The dictators favorite snack food.
I agree with Fred.
@ Indiana, Fred isn't talking apathy. Note that he mentions a strong merciless action will be taken if someone attacks us. F
How long until the US goes back into Afghanistan? To get from
Waziristan to Times Square takes - how long? 36 hours in good
weather? Fundamentalist Islam hates the US not for any US actions,
but for what the US is.
It's always funny when people start to think
that "peace has broken out". That a
"foreign policy" "expert" could believe such anhistorical nonsense is hilarious.
Obambi is conducting a 'nuanced' and 'cerebral' campaign of surgical precision, he can't just hang around waiting for the rest of us to understand Him.
Am I the only one who thinks that having that kind of power in Obozo's hands is very scary? I guess the author is correct in describing such "surgical" strikes as "police actions" since the police are rapidly morphing into an internal military having no knowledge or interest in Peals principles of policing.
If an organization based in another country attacks a western country then it is completely appropriate to go after that organization following a declaration of war. Unless there is a state of war, the US has no right to go after people in another country. Foreign governments cooperation can be facilitated by threatening them with military action. This was the case in Afghanistan after 11/9/2001; the Taliban refused to give up OBL so the US went in to get him. A formal declaration of war should have been issued but approval of the military action was obtained from congress.
Likely drone weapons will become increasingly miniaturized as well as more deadly. A remotely controlled crow with a small charge of C4 would be enough to blow someones head off. Getting even smaller, loading up radio controlled wasps with either Botulinum toxin, Tetanus toxin or Ebola would be highly lethal until someone figured out what was killing politicians on the golf course. That would be one way of the targets of US drone warfare to get back at the US politicians who approved drone strikes as a matter of course.
I much prefer the situation of a country not carrying out any lethal attacks on the residents of another until it has been directly attacked. Then, the response should be sufficiently devastating that the surviving residents of the attacking country would think long and hard before even thinking about doing it again.
I love the phrase "open ended wars".
How totally ignorant are these people? Do they understand that real war isn't a movie? Do they expect something like this?
"
This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that, unless we hear from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany, and that furthermore we are determined to proseucte this war to the fullest extent, and to the utmost of our ability; until the end of the next fiscal year; at which time it will have become boring and we will then negotiate with the Germans in order to find a way to withdraw our forces and pretend that we have won.
So I call upon you all to make great sacrifices, and do your very utmost for this war effort, until the clock runs out and we can all go home and forget this ever happened... don't worry, this isn't an open ended commitment. It's just like a cell phone contract, or a marriage, you can quit any time you want."