War & Peace

Oppose War with Syria

"The war-making power belongs solely to Congress. It cannot be delegated to the Executive Branch, in any blanket way, through any kind of war powers act. If you fail to restrain the President, then you will be complicit in the President’s crimes. His planned actions violate the Constitution. They also break other written laws. This makes them inherently criminal. The President is trying to fix something that cannot be solved by outsiders dropping bombs. This will not protect innocent people. It will kill innocents. Their blood will be on the President’s hands, and on your hands, unless you use your powers to resist. I am doing what I can to resist. I do not want these criminal acts committed in my name." Continue reading →

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Iraq war killed 120,000 and cost $800 billion, study estimates

"At least 116,000 Iraqi civilians and more than 4,800 coalition troops died in Iraq between the outbreak of war in 2003 and the US withdrawal in 2011, researchers estimate. Its involvement in Iraq has so far cost the United States $810 billion (625 billion euros) and could eventually reach $3 trillion, they added. 'More than 31,000 US military personnel were injured and a substantial percentage of those deployed suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other neuropsychological disorders and their concomitant psychosocial problems.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIraq war killed 120,000 and cost $800 billion, study estimates

Murray Rothbard: Fighting for Oil? [1990]

"The U.S., by its embargo, blockade, and continuing threats of war, has already managed to raise the price of crude to $40 a barrel! In fact, it would be more plausible to suppose that the aim of the massive Bush intervention has been to raise the price of oil, not to lower it. And considering Mr. Bush's vice presidential visit to Saudi Arabia specifically to urge them to raise prices, his long-time connections with Texas oil and with Big Oil generally, as well as Texas's slump in recent years, this hunch begins to look all too credible." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMurray Rothbard: Fighting for Oil? [1990]

Glenn Greenwald: David Frum, the Iraq war and oil

"Wars rarely have one clear and singular purpose, and the Iraq War in particular was driven by different agendas prioritized by different factions. To say it was fought exclusively due to oil is an oversimplification. But the fact that oil is a major factor in every Western military action in the Middle East is so self-evident that it's astonishing that it's even considered debatable, let alone some fringe and edgy idea. Yet few claims were more stigmatized in the run-up to the Iraq War, and after, than the view that oil was a substantial factor. In 2006, George Bush instructed us that there was a 'responsible' way to criticize the US war effort in Iraq, and an 'irresponsible' way to do so, and he helpfully defined the boundaries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: David Frum, the Iraq war and oil

The Real Reason for the Iraq War

"Like most lefty journalists, I assumed that George Bush and Tony Blair invaded Iraq to buy up its oil fields, cheap and at gun-point, and cart off the oil. We thought we knew the neo-cons true casus belli: Blood for oil. But the invasion was not about 'blood for oil', but something far more sinister: blood for no oil. War to keep supply tight and send prices skyward. Oil men, whether James Baker or George Bush or Dick Cheney, are not in the business of producing oil. They are in the business of producing profits. And they've succeeded. Iraq, capable of producing six to 12 million barrels of oil a day, still exports well under its old OPEC quota of three million barrels." Continue reading →

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Worldwide loss of oil supply heightens Syria attack risk

"Libya's oil output has crashed to a near standstill over the past year as warlords and strikes paralyse the country, tightening the screws on global crude supply as the crisis in Syria comes to a head. There are still pockets of rising oil output, notably in the US where shale oil is rapidly reducing US dependence on energy imports. The geo-strategic effect of shale is double-edged for the US: it lowers the incentive for Washington to commit forces to the Middle East, but it also means the US is better able to handle the consequences of any oil spike. The biggest losers would be those emerging economies such as India and China that rely on fuel imports and operate inefficient industries." Continue reading →

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Joe Biden’s Case That Waging War Without Congress Is an Impeachable Offense

"He reflected deeply on the law for almost two decades, through numerous presidencies, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; consulted a whole group of constitutional scholars; taught constitutional law classes on the separation of powers; and went on national TV while running for president to declare unilateral executive-branch war-making a high crime! But now that he's part of an administration openly pondering strikes on Syria without Congressional approval -- even as dozens of legislators demand to be consulted -- Biden doesn't have any public objections, and the position he and his constitutional experts once asserted is treated as a naive curiosity in the press." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJoe Biden’s Case That Waging War Without Congress Is an Impeachable Offense

Rand Paul: ‘I can’t see sending my son to fight on the same side as al Qaeda’

"Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., sharply opposed American military action in Syria on Fox News Thursday night, demanding that President Obama get congressional approval should he choose to act. Paul said that Obama would probably decide against a Congressional vote to avoid a similar defeat as David Cameron did in British Parliamant. Paul also explained that he had difficulty seeing any American interests in the Syrian conflict. Under Sharia law, Paul noted, Christians would be persecuted for blasphemy, citing a woman in Pakistan who was jailed for blasphemy after she drank from a cup shared by Muslim workers. 'That is not something I want to send our boys and girls to die for,' Paul added." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRand Paul: ‘I can’t see sending my son to fight on the same side as al Qaeda’