Text 3523, 66 rader
Skriven 2010-01-22 21:25:16 av Lee Lofaso (3:800/432.0)
   Kommentar till text 3443 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Military adventures (was
================================
Hello Bob,

>RB>The interesting thing is that he's right, Ward. The President, as
>RB>commander in chief of the armed forces, really does have the power to
>RB>order military forces to act. He can't declare war, but in the wake
>RB>of WWII that's become a mere formality.

>LL>The military can refuse to take orders...

RB>...which would be treason.

Only if prosecuted.  But who is going to prosecute the leader
of a successful coup d'etat?

>LL>Or convince the President to take an alternative course of action...

RB>Which would be legitimate.

Changing public opinion, usually by testifying before the Congress,
often does the trick.  Of course, there is no need to resort to those
tactics if the president comes to his senses before then.

The point is, the president is not going to go to war unless he has
the support of the military.  He might want to go to war, but he will
not unless he has said support.

>RB>The only problem is that he has no power to _finance_ them. And
>RB>trying to send an army overseas costs _money_...

>LL>GWB did fine cooking the books thus never having to pay for his wars
>LL>in Afghanistan and Iraq.

RB>No, he received the funding he requested from Congress in both cases.

GWB resorted to an accounting trick, keeping the numbers off the books.
What that meant, in effect, was that GWB borrowed the money from future
generations in order to finance his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  That
is why this country is in such an economic mess right now.  It has come
time to pay the piper.  And we do not have the money to pay the piper.
So what then?  We go bust.  China goes bust.  The whole world goes bust.

>RB>That's one of the interesting points in the "checks and balances"
>RB>system of American government.

>LL>There are no checks and balances when it comes to war.

RB>Bullshit.

Deficit spending paved the way for the US to fight WWII.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are nothing in comparison
to what was spent in WWII.  So why are we going bust due
to small wars, rather than one big gigantic war?

>LL>However, that does not mean the economy cannot crash and burn...

RB>Which has zilch to do with the subject.

All wars are economic.

--Lee


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