#unauthorized war

For some reason Trump thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. This despite starting unprovoked wars abroad, mowing down US citizens inside the country, and frequently using violence porn in his rhetoric such as the recent SOTU.

Of course there is no authorization from Congress or other legal justification.

The first war of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace era has begun – an unprovoked attempt at regime change in collaboration with Israel, with no legal foundation, launched in the midst of diplomatic efforts to avert conflict, and with minimal consultation with Congress or the American public. Trump’s recorded eight-minute address after the first bombs had fallen, made clear that this would be no limited strike aimed at cajoling Tehran into concessions at the negotiating table. He warned that if Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) did not surrender they would be killed, and the country’s armed forces, its missile and navy would be smashed.

We don't know how far this new Trump war will go. He may just drop a lot of bombs and declare victory or US ground troops could get deeply involved.

Trump is a hypocrite who previously complained about US wars.

Trump has long railed against the folly of the Iraq war. He campaigned twice on a platform of ending US military entanglements abroad, and lobbied aggressively to be awarded the Nobel peace prize based on the factually shaky claim to have ended eight wars. Barely 10 days before launching the war, he had hosted the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace which was supposedly going to resolve conflicts, not just in the Middle East but around the world.

"Peace Board" my ass. Iran is a Middle Eastern country of over 90 million people which includes several large ethnic minorities and is currently run by religious extremists. What could possibly go wrong?

If anything, this could be the most accurate headline regarding this war.

Not a drill.

Not a conspiracy.

They're asking if orders are lawful.

#Operation Southern Spear

Full story on substack.

How the United States Went to War in Venezuela Without Congress By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News The Question That Ends the Debate Before we argue motives, morality, or messaging, one question has to be answered: Under what legal authority did the United States use military force against Venezuela? Not rhetorically.Not emotionally.Legally. As of this writing, no clear…

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) points out that there is no US plan regarding the war in Iran and that it is open-ended. That sounds like a recipe for a forever war.

Less than two months after George W. Bush launched his pointless Iraq invasion, he flew to an aircraft carrier anchored off the coast of San Diego to declare "mission accomplished".

Of course the Iraq War dragged on for years after Bush's stunt and led to the founding of the ISIS terrorist group and its affiliates.

Niccolò Machiavelli, in his history of Florence, wrote...

Comincionsi le guerre quando altri vuole, ma non quando altri vuole si finiscono.

My early Renaissance Italian is almost nonexistent. But a passable rendering...

Wars begin at one's will, but they do not end at one's will.

Essentially, once you start a war you don't necessarily retain control over how it runs or concludes.

No One Knows Who They All Are.

Civilians are dying in the Caribbean.

The U.S. is conducting military strikes based on a classified list of 24 "terrorist" organizations.

No war declaration. No oversight. Not even Congress has seen the full list.

This isn’t national security. It’s a fantasy war with real body counts.

And the people we’re bombing don’t even know they’re considered enemies.

👉 https://open.substack.com/pub/slmurphree/p/trumps-secret-kill-list-has-24-names?r=6pwuf4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Since Mr. Trump began the war on Feb. 28, Republicans have consistently blocked Democratic efforts to halt the hostilities and force the president to win authorization from Congress, arguing that such a move would undermine him in the fight in the Middle East. They have also hung back from putting forth any legislation that would bless the mission and lay out goals, limits and a timeline for withdrawal.

That posture — the latest move by Republicans to cede congressional power to the president — has effectively allowed Mr. Trump to run out the clock for quick action by Congress on the conflict.

As their reservations about the war have grown in recent weeks, some Republicans have considered trying to rein in the operation with an authorization that would lay out narrow objectives and criteria for an eventual exit. But they missed a 30-day deadline after the start of the war to force consideration of such a bill.

And the White House this month steered around another statutory milestone of 60 days, which fell on May 1, for Mr. Trump to seek permission from Congress to continue the conflict or begin to withdraw forces. His team argued that the 60-day clock had stopped because the cease-fire between the United States and Iran had terminated the conflict, and claimed that the U.S. forces imposing a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz had begun a separate operation called Project Freedom.

That has left critics with fewer tools at their disposal for challenging the military action in the Middle East, and thrust Republicans in Congress into the perilous position of owning an unpopular war during a challenging midterm election year in which they were already in an uphill fight to keep their majorities.

“The Congress does play a very, very direct role,” in matters of war, said Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, who drafted, but never introduced, an authorization that would force the president to develop metrics for success in the fight with Iran and exit criteria. “You can’t do an end run around us.”