When War Isn’t War
When War Isn’t War by Ryan Evans, War on the Rocks*
When one state launches a military attack on another, is that war? According to Secretary of State John Kerry, the answer is: not always.
…Kerry insisted, “President Obama is not asking America to go to war.” He insisted that he (and Dempsey and Hagel) …“know the difference between going to war and what President Obama is requesting now.” Per Kerry’s contention, the President is only asking for the authority “to deter, disrupt, prevent, and degrade the potential for, future uses of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction,” by the Assad regime. But not to wage war. This is an interesting perspective, not least because, according to the text of the resolution, President Obama seeks authorization under the War Powers Resolution.
…Kerry clarified, sort of: “We don’t want to go to war. We don’t believe we are going to war in the classic sense of taking American troops and America to war. The president is asking for the authority to do a limited action…It’s limited.”
This is nonsense….
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