Obama just signed a blank check for endless war in Afghanistan and one congresswoman is not having it. Journalist John Nichols, reporting on US Representative Barbara Lee, a lady who has always had the clearest vision when it comes to the US role in Afghanistan, besides on like, related matters.
The California congresswoman cast the sole vote in the US Congress against the Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,” he wrote in TheNation.
The journalist notes that Ms Lee did not oppose responding in appropriate and necessary ways to genuine threats to the United States. But she feared “…the open-ended authorization would become a blank check for endless war in the targeted country of Afghanistan and elsewhere, and that despite a war-weary public, calls continue to keep more U.S. troops in Afghanistan for many more years.”
“This war has already cost our nation too much, she says,” reprimanding the president, who was elected with the strong support of Congresswoman Lee and other war foes as he announced that the planned withdrawal by US forces from Afghanistan would be suspended.
Instead, current troop levels of roughly 10,000— along with the full capacity for air strikes, like the October 3 hit that devastated the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz—would remain in place through 2016.
“What that means,” continues John Nichols, “is that a third presidential administration is likely to continue cashing the ‘blank check’ that Congress issued—despite Lee’s objection—in the eighth month of George W. Bush’s presidency.
As she said last week, “This war has already sacrificed the lives of 2,350 of our brave servicemen and women, including six in the first seven days of this month. Additionally, this war has taken the lives of thousands of Afghans and servicemen and women from our coalition and NATO partners.”
“Similarly,” added Lee, “this war’s price tag, totaling more than $715 billion, continues to undermine our national security and prevents investments in important domestic priorities. In fact, every hour this war costs taxpayers $4 million.”
The article ended with Barbara Lee saying: “In 2001, I opposed the authorization for this war because it empowered any President to wage endless war without the Congressional oversight mandated by the Constitution. Fourteen years into this war, this endless war continues and Congress continues to abdicate its Constitutional responsibility,” says Lee, who adds, “It is past time to end this costly and bloody war and restore Congress’s constitutional duty to debate matters of war and peace.”
For the full article see: https://www.thenation.com/article/barbara-lee-is-still-right-to-object-to-the-blank-check-endless-war-in-afghanistan/
