QOTD: Rachel Maddow
by digby
On the necessity of having a congressional debate on ISIS strategy:
We have a great and recent history of making terrible decisions. Terrible, short-sighted, poorly argued and in some cases based on false premises decisions.”
Also too, this:
Yes, some of the U.S. aircraft that are conducting these now 153 airstrikes are drones, so there is no pilot at risk, the the other aircraft that we’ve got over there are fighter jets and what they describe as attack aircraft. All of those have pilots and crews. And for some reason we’ve decided not to call what they’re doing “combat.” But the people they are attacking have some capacity to shoot down aircraft that are attacking them. They’ve got heavy anti-aircraft weapons.
So it might be politically convenient to say you support airstrikes, but not combat, or airstrikes but not “boots-on-the-ground. But there are now more than 1100 U.S. personnel in Iraq to support the airstrikes that are already happening. And god forbid if American aircraft start getting shot down by this militant group with their anti-aircraft artillery, then you better believe there are going to be boots on the grounds, and quickly…
Her whole segment is worth watching.
Unfortunately, there is almost no chance that the congress would not approve military action against the barbaric monsters who beheaded two Americans. The president is out there saying that he’s going whether they like it or not which may just be enough to taunt them into doing it — especially since the polling makes it clear that the American people back the play.
So I think the “Kingston” strategy of forcing the president to make the decision so they can criticize him either way may no longer be operative. It’s always possible that they can delay action until the election but if history informs us of anything, a call to arms will almost always be met with enthusiastic support among most politicians trying to be re-elected.
But the debate is still worth having.It tends to clarify things. And politicians should be on the record when it comes to war. I just wouldn’t get my hopes up that it will change anything,.
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