America’s warriors are owed Congress’ careful attention
One of my best friends in our squadron deployed to Afghanistan twice in a 24-month period. He returned from a volunteer tour in Helmand province and was stateside for about a month before being notified we were next in line to support Operation Enduring Freedom. He had the option to stay home, having just returned from the war, but he didn’t blink before he said, “if my buddies are going, I’m going, too.”
The military is never hesitant to fight. Some troops are headed to NATO nations now to check Russian aggression, while some veterans and others are even volunteering to fight in Ukraine. We must expect the same readiness for war from our fellow Americans and our elected leaders. Congress has all but given up its constitutional responsibility to “provide for the common defense” and to decide when to declare war.
The military is ready and willing, but we each only have one life to give. This solemn responsibility is why every member of Congress and the president should take a careful, cleareyed look at what they ask the military to do and when they ask us to do it. For the past 20 years of war, congressional oversight was nearly nonexistent due to the broad powers of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force . This blanket authorization allowed members of Congress to become almost entirely disconnected from the warfighter in Iraq and Afghanistan. Elected leaders barely answered a constituent question, much less took take a vote about the global war on terror — for two decades.
God willing, no U.S. troops will fire a shot in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent aggression. The U.S. and other NATO countries are being careful not to enter the conflict, while also offering meaningful support to the Ukrainian resistance. Meanwhile, President Putin is being careful not to draw NATO into direct conflict because he would catastrophically lose, but he also needs the narrative of NATO aggression to bolster domestic support in Russia.
In Russia, the sanctions are taking a toll. With the ruble falling steeply, interest rates rising to 20 percent and global industry pulling out, Russia is in for economic hardship for some time to come. If Russia is able to topple President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government, they stand to inherit an insurgency from an inspired Ukrainian population and will have to play the role of occupier with a battered army. President Putin is in a tough spot, and it is not clear what will satisfy him.
With such an increasingly untenable position of Putin’s own doing, he is left with few good choices. And if he feels cornered enough to attack a NATO member nation, he’d invite war with the whole alliance, including the United States.
I do not think we are about to enter a war in Eastern Europe in the short term. I sincerely hope we do not. But volatile situations like this can lead us to confrontation quickly. Our elected and appointed leaders should be gaming out each “what if” with an eye toward keeping our option set wide and our commitment flexible, setting polling and politics aside.
…
Read More: America’s warriors are owed Congress’ careful attention