If you are old enough to remember the last time Congress declared war, you are pretty old, probably in your 90s.
That came in 1941, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Although the Constitution specifically states that Congress alone has the authority to declare war, we’ve managed to go to war six times, the latest beginning Saturday when the U.S. joined Israel in a bombing attack on Iran that President Trump characterized as a “major combination operation,” lest there be any confusion over his intentions that it was the start of a war.
The treasure spent on these undeclared wars is estimated to be a staggering $21.8 trillion and counting. The human toll of these wars is the lives of 110,000 U.S. servicemen.
The costs can be calculated. The benefits are elusive, if they exist at all.
This is the fifth war in my lifetime. I can think of one tangible way my life is better for having fought that war. With the exception of the Gulf War (the U.S. response to Iraq’s takeover of Kuwait), the state purposes of these wars have proven not to be true.
In Korea and Vietnam, there was no “domino effect” of communist expansion. In Iraq, we found no weapons of mass destruction. Regime change in Afghanistan lasted 20 years. If anything, the Taliban has more control of the nation than it did at the start of the war.
What we should have learned from all this, is that war is serious business, not a political strategy. The enormous decision of committing our military to fight is one that should be reached by consensus, not by presidential fiat.
Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has legally (if not ethically) circumvented Congress to wage war in a variety of ways.
There have been recent efforts to close those loopholes, but they have failed, almost exclusively because of Republican opposition.
History tells us this is a mistake. How many of these wars might have been averted had the decision to go to war been decided by Congress? With the exception of the War in Afghanistan, which came in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when emotions ran extremely high, I’m not sure we would have fought any of those wars. We would have been better off staying out of those wars.
Somehow, though, we never learn.
The stated reasons for the war in Iran are a smorgasbord — preventing the nuclear weapon potential of Iran, destroying Iran’s ability to wage conventional war, dismantling of Iran’s proxy armies across the Middle East, toppling the current regime and launching a preemptive strike from Iran.
A lot of this sounds like warmed over Cold War rhetoric to me.
After all, Iran was the same threat one, five or 10 years ago as it is today. What changed? I would kind of like to know, which is something that following the Constitution would help with. Put the matter before Congress. Debate it on behalf of the American people, whose sons and daughters are part of the calculation.
So here we are. War abroad, high prices at home (gas prices rising by 20 to 30 cents per gallon this week alone, according to AAA).
And for what?
In August of 1969, Country Joe and the Fish were among the performers at Woodstock. The group was far from the best of the collective talent that played there.
They are remembered for one specific reason, a song they performed called, “What Are We Fighting For?”
The lyrics are sadly timeless:
“And it’s one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me
I don’t give damn
The next stop is…Iran.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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