Reich writes: "We are ineluctably moving toward a world war against the Islamic State. Whether you support such a war or not, the signs are ubiquitous."
Robert Reich. (photo: Perian Flaherty)
We Are Moving Towards a World War With ISIS
22 November 15
e are ineluctably moving toward a world war against the Islamic State. Whether you support such a war or not, the signs are ubiquitous. No sane person welcomes war. America’s record in Afghanistan and Iraq does not reassure. Yet if we do go to war we need to keep a watchful eye on 5 things:
1. Who does the fighting? To date, America’s “volunteer” army is made up mainly of lower-income men and women for whom army pay and perks provide the best options. But if we go into a larger war on the ground, we can’t rely solely on volunteers from low-income families. How do we spread the burden and sacrifice? Are we ready to reinstitute the draft?
2. What if any civil liberties are we prepared to sacrifice? The debate over NSA/CIA spying on Americans is still fresh and the more imminent possibility of terrorism on U.S. soil will revive it. War can also lead to internments of suspects and suspensions of constitutional rights. We must be vigilant that we maintain the freedoms we are fighting for.
3. How many more innocent civilians in Syria and Iraq will be killed or injured by such a war? The bombing raids have already claimed a terrible civilian toll, contributing to a mass exodus of refugees. We must demand that civilian casualties be minimized. And we must do our part to take in a fair portion of those refugees.
4. How do we prevent the spread of anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States? Some Republicans are already suggesting Muslims should not be admitted as refugees. Ben Carson argues no Muslim should ever be president. Marco Rubio wants to close down mosques. Donald Trump refuses to rule out requiring all Muslims to carry special religious identification, and warrantless searches of their homes and places of worship. Says Trump, "We’re going to have to do things that we never did before….we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago." We must do everything we can to stop the hate-mongering.
5. How do we pay for such a war without raising taxes or cutting vital public services? We must not let Republicans use the war as a pretext to cut Social Security and Medicare, or programs for the poor. It should be paid for the way we used to pay for wars – with higher taxes, especially on the wealthy.
What do you think?
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Comments
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I'm sure I'll get some red ink on my comment.
Since my youth, the U S has engaged in war after war after war. What we got-a jobs program for the military/indust rial complex: Fought by the poor while the military contractors, the wealthy, got further enriched.
Remember the 8 billion dollars which was sent to Iraq during the Iraqi war? Just "disappeared." Was loaded on pallets. wrapped in cellophane and placed in "storage." Reported as "disappeared" but not investigated.
Stephan Hawking:"We, as humans, are just advanced primates living in a world of primates."
Must confess, I could not ignore the call(s) for help for Kimberly Rivera, the only woman ever deported from Canada, along with her husband and four children, for having 'gone over the hill' to Canada, when about to be re-deployed to war in Afghanistan. Kim was about to be fired from her low paying job at WalMart, and her husband could not find employment, following the contrived 'economy collapse' in 2008. She had no other option but to enlist, did so, was then deployed to Afghanistan, and then found she could in no way, in good conscience, do what she had been ordered to do while on guard duty - kill all, including civilians and children. Pull up: KRDO Kimberly Rivera Press Conference for what she, then pregnant with child number 5, suffered when forced back into the U.S. - this no longer a democracy, but rather now a 'corruptcracy'. Kim had never been advised, as is the military's obligation to do, of her right to apply for 'conscientious objector' status.
Pres. Ike warned us/U.S. of this MIC power grab that was coming, and which, no big surprise, the 1% are totally involved in and profiting from. Time to revolt it is - with a Bernie Sanders political revolution first. Many will "...leave the country." if this evil plus mess continues.
Indian Weaver, You are right on the money, even more right than the author of this article who I thought was, by the title of the article, going to warn us that we are on the verge of a world war of "Christians" against Muslims.
We, the US and it's "Christian" (which the US hasn't been for along, long time, if ever) allies, let Osama Bin Laden's attacks drive us to war in Afghanistan and then in innocent (with regard to 9/11) Iraq. Saddam may have been a tyrant, but he had nothing to do with 9/11.
The Muslim extremists know exactly what they are doing. They have provoked us into overreacting time and time again. We will continue to overreact in a "whackamole" fashion until we offend so many Muslims that many heretofore unaligned Muslims will side with the radicals. We can't kill our way out of this situation, unless we want to kill tens or hundreds of millions of formerly moderate Muslims around the world when they eventually tire of seeing their innocent families and friends slaughtered as "collateral damage" by us and our allies.
The game will change drastically against us when the world of Islam develops biological warfare weapons, or pops its first black market nuke in London, Washington, DC, Moscow or Beijing.
Remember, desperate people do desperate things and desperation is rife in the Muslim world.
but you are wrong to say that this mess we are in now is due to the actions of the Muslims. They have not provoked us into war time after time---all this 'terrorist' stuff is MADE IN THE USA, WITH LOTS OF HELP FROM OUR DEAR ALLY ISRAEL.
We are the terrorists! We are the bad guys--well, not really we, the people of this sorry nation, but our 'leaders' the corrupt creatures in Congress. They pay absolutely NO ATTENTION to the voice of the people. They vote as directed by the greedy bastards that give them 'donations', better known as BRIBES.
It is past time for we, the people , to rise up in rebellion to STOP THE MADNESS OF ENDLESS WAR. We must not send ANYONE in Congress back to screw us worse in the future. Kick the bums out!!!
Muslims have nothing to do with this.
Care to be more specific ?
Too bad the war with Islam started because the USA "created" al-Qaeda by recruiting "jihadists" to overthrow the secular government of Afghanistan (which was backed by Russia), and then "created" ISIS by overthrowing the secular government of Iraq (which was ... )
1. We have over 600K ground forces available and no one supposes they will all be used to fight ISIL/ISIS. The Pentagon isn't falling for it again. Conventional warfare will not defeat what are essentially guerrilla movements in 4th generation warfare.
The idea that floating the draft will discourage the war machine is wishful thinking.
2. Please Robert. "What civil liberties are we prepared to sacrifice?" Surely this is tongue in cheek. We have ALREADY sacrificed any semblance of habeas corpus, right to face our accusers and privacy.What's left of these is granted solely at the whim of the WH. I am amazed you haven't noticed. Perhaps this highlights the problem?
3. Until we stop bombing innocent civilians, they will continue to die. The question is not how many, the question is; does anyone have a plan for ending perpetual war? Certainly not the RepubliCrat/Neocons.
4. The bigotry will last until the peacemakers assert themselves. So far, they are more concerned about transgender rights, names on buildings and healthcare than Muslim bigotry.
5. Bob, how to pay for it? Again you are jesting with us. What the hell, are you suggesting austerity for God's sake? Didn't you read a certain prize winning Keynesian the other day on the Paris attacks? Hey, out of bad comes some good. Deficit spending for example. Bastiat be damned, break those windows and be quick about it.
1. Those 600K military personnel "available" have been continuously at war for more than a decade; some members of the armed forces have served more than SIX tours in combat. They are tired, discouraged, underpaid, and already are improperly led, inadequately trained, and poorly supported. "The Pentagon" can do damned little to stop a conflagration if the war-mongers prevail. Reich did not suggest that reinstituting the draft would discourage the rush to war--but it probably would. Would all the drum-beaters be so anxious to lauch a war if they and their sons and daughters who have never even considered military service would be facing the draft? The draft would compel the American people to become personally involved, instead of taking the now so well-entranched position that "we" should fight, meaning "anyone but me". Like Dick Cheney, most Americans feel they have "more important things to do". If we're going to launch a formal war, let's commit ourselves do so--and gear up our rather formidable war machine, beginning with an immediate draft.
2. Reich is not proposing that anyone sacrifice any more civil liberties than the appalling amount we already have tamely surrendered. He merely asks us to wake up and acknowledge that civil liberties are among the first casualties of a declared war, and to consider precisely how many more of them, and which, we are willing to surrender tamely.
That said:
1. IMHO you diminish the potential of the Pentagon who have already behind the scenes let it be known that they wanted no part of war against Iran and in so doing performed a national service. Your (not Reich let us note) suggestion that a draft "floating" would engage the public in the debate is perhaps astute, which is another reason why it's not going to happen.
2. If it takes you to explain what Reich is proposing, he didn't explain himself very well.
"What if any..." seems to me the salient passage in his question. I stand by my comment.
2. Since you felt moved to interpret Reich's remarks, I thought I could have a try, too.
I also stand by my remarks, which are based on too many decades of experience and observation.
As he says, if Chinese troops were stationed here and bombing our cities, we would be really pissed. So are the Arabs.
We do not need middle east oil anymore, thanks to American fracturing technology. Israel has more than enough weapons to defend itself without American troops. Simply GET OUT.
Unfortunately a large number of people in this country are so disconnected from reality that they believe that such a thing is entirely reasonable (hence Carson and Trump).
In the winter of 2002 the flagship newspaper in my state published the results of a statewide poll it had helped to fund showing that a significant majority of those polled favored a war on Iraq, but only if it did not involve U.S. ground forces. I am not making this up. When asked if they would still favor war if it DID involve U.S. ground troops, a majority was opposed. The article ran under the headline, "Majority in state favor invasion."
The next month they ran another poll, with similar results and the same headline. Still not making this up. The local NPR station, based at and partly funded by a major high-ranking public university, repeated the headline without comment. When I called and demanded to speak with the station manager, an embarrassed flack gave me her email address. Two weeks or more later, after two emails and another call, I received a dismissive email from the manager.
Unfortunately the same people who supported that war also have short memories.
The lockstep reaction of the Repubs to the attacks in Paris do not provide much optimism.
It's a simple answer for future conflicts. Just don't start them. This is already started. We should just get out, but I don't see that happening.
WHAT IF THEY GAVE A WAR AND NO ONE CAME?
IT TAKES TWO TO MAKE A FIGHT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDgS_YR9Cqw
(highlight link--right click--left click on go to....)
4. Bigotry is deadly regardless of who or what is the target. Sneering that bigotry against some targets is not as reprehensible as bigotry against other targets doesn't render bigotry any more moral, logical, or practical: All bigotry causes harm to both its target and its practioners, and none more effectively than that directed against an "enemy".
5. Reich asks us how WE would propose to fund a war, and suggests how SOME would propose to do so. Given the current attitude of Congress, you can bet that the 1% won't be asked to spend a dime, although they will make most of the profit. However, the questions about police conduct, the drive to deal with racial and financial equality, the effort to raise the minimum wage, secure equal pay for all, make public college educations free to all, and dozens of other questions currently on the table will be swept away by rationing, the draft, arming ourselves and our allies, and sacrificing to pay for the war.
4. Yes indeed, bigotry is an a priori evil. That however does not change the fact that it becomes of necessity a matter of time, energy and resource that we unfortunately must prioritize in our plans of action. If you believe as I that "...war is the health of the state", then this becomes the issue that trumps the others.
5. I am not sure what you are saying here unless it's tax the rich. I certainly have no problem with that suggestion although we could confiscate it all and would still have deficits.
I grew up in the 1940's helping my grandparents sort rationing tickets. War requires many economic sacrifices as well as producing nothing of value. Do you agree with Bastiat's broken window fallacy?
War should be the very last effort of mankind, resorted to when nothing else will work, when all other efforts have been exhausted.
We've already been at war for the last 15 years, yet nothing good has come of it. We are feared, distrusted, and even hated throughout much of the world; neither the Taliban nor Al Quaida has been eliminated as a threat to the people of Afghanistan or Iraq, let alone the rest of the world; we have wasted much money and many lives, our own and others'.
My memories also go back to WWII, through the stories of my parents' and grandparents' generation. I also have the benefit of having lived for 30 months in Turkey in the '60s. Although no longer one of the "Arabic" nations, Turkey certainly was Moslem, yet its constitution prohibited government by theocracy.
We do not understand Islam; we do not understand or even try to emphathize with Moslems. We have no business interfering in their national life, and no right whatsoever--leg al, moral, or religious--to assume that we can convert Moselms to what passes these days for (but may not be recognized in Heaven as) Christianity.
For centuries, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have been misused by one political force after another to coerce humanity into idiotic, wasteful, pointless, and hopeless conflicts. I hope we will not venture any further down that road!
Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it, and most of us don't study much of anything in this country these days, contenting ourselves with being led by the nose by the likes of Trump and Carson and their ilk.
Addendum: Climate change and environmental protection will be absolutely sidelined by a major conflict. So will questions like GMO labeling, tar-sands extraction, fracking, and many other profitable but insane endeavors. By the time the smoke from such a conflagration clears, if it ever does, the planet will be beyond salvaging.
Here at home, let's let wages rise to stave off deflation and provide universal, single payer health care. Let's not get sucked in by our "duty to be the world's leader." NATO accomplished its mission, and should not become (or continue to be) the vehicle of American adventurism. The 2016 NDAA sets our active army at 475,000. Add the Marines to that, and you're still back at 1950 levels, though our weapons systems are modernized. They aren't cheap, but they are effective.
Let's clean up the mess at home. The EU is big enough to police itself.
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.
Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.
By the light of burning martyrs, Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv’ries ever with the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.
Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.
written by American literary giant James R. Lowell of Boston, protesting America's war with Mexico, 1845
(If the religious tone offends anyone, I apologize for your offense, but the poem WAS a hymn. However, the principles Lowell espouses are universal and eternal, with or without the religious context.)
Character cannot be summoned at the moment of crisis if it has been squandered by years of compromise and rationalization . The only testing ground for the heroic is the mundane. The only preparation for that one profound decision which can change a life, or even a nation, is those hundreds of half-conscious, self-defining, seemingly insignificant decisions made in private. Habit is the daily battleground of character. (Dan Coats)
Such irresponsible language for one presumably so intelligent.
War - YES and we need a leader who will deal with them. PUTZUS ain't the one !
BUT NOT A World War
your side only leads in treason and cowardice, as you always show.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_hwDdE0Gu4E
It's long, complex and clear. It's not only about the JFK assassination, but about its historical reasons and their current applications to war.
The other side of the fence is the Islamic one. We have managed to goad them into al Qaida & ISIS. Their historical background for war has been sitting there waiting for the moment and the CIA gave it to them. We'll all pay the price. Given the brilliance of our leaders like Brennan, Comey, Clapper, & Rice, we will probably lose - again.
you appear to be delusional
And those are just the countries where actual military personnel are fighting. We also have covert and contracted fighters, as well as proxy forces doing our bidding.
But, like all bullies, these are all much smaller and weaker opponents. With Russia finally stepping in to block the long-planned "regime change" in Syria, we are getting very close to fighting a more "fair fight:" one that could be our last.
Albert Einstein said he didn't know what weapons would be used to fight WW III, but he was sure that WW IV would be fought with sticks and stones.
Compared to the West Isis IS fighting with sticks and stones and look: they have managed to shut down Brussels for the 2nd day without firing a shot. Fear seems to be a very mighty weapon.
I thought we'd been at war with ISIS for over a year already .....
Remember the beheadings, and the guys posing in snazzy sports shoes and black uniforms brandishing weapons in long parades of brand new Toyota trucks? The worst of the worst, and all the big tough Americans on my Facebook feed shaking their fists at ISIS talking about how many they were going to kill with their bare hands?
Now all of a sudden we're MOVING TOWARD a war with ISIS? WTF? I guess it's a good thing Russia's a little more serious about this then we are.
If the west decides to go to war, it must end with only amoebas being left alive in the areas occupied by ISIS.
How many times have we heard whites say that no black ever should be President? How can Carson align his "Christian"-onl y discrimination with the First Amendment?
How can Trump possibly align his statements with the Oath of Office to protect the Constitution of the United States?
I'm struck by both of these financially well-to-do men who are at no personal risk from this religious war having the arrogance to stand in judgement of those whom would be killed in this war.
I'm also struck by how little difference there is between the hatred of "others" that these two men express; and the hatred of "others" that ISIL expresses.
Christianity as a formalized religion developed about 1700-1800 years ago as a compromise between a Roman emperor Constantine) and the hierarchy-promo ting members of the clergy of a relatively new spin-off from Judaism. Islam and Judaism have their roots roughly the same time frame (i.e. 2000+ years ago); and evoked similar "us vs. them" conflicts. We're over a thousand years late letting go of those old power struggles.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (also called ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) is a terrorist group that follows an Islamic ultra-fundament alist ideology and that controls a vast region across Iraq and Syria.
It is a de facto state that declares itself to be the rightful heir of Islam's founding leaders. It considers itself at war with all nations and with all people who do not meet its standards as "true" Muslims. It believes its mission is to bring on the apocalypse as foretold in scripture. To this end, it seeks to conquer territory where it will build a real state and govern as it sees fit.
But for all its grand ambitions and twisted beliefs, ISIS is also a calculating, strategic organization that has brilliantly exploited the Middle East's political problems and social ills to recruit an army, win battles, and conquer territory."
How does one declare war on this ? How absurd. These people are not afraid of death, they relish it. We are the fearful ones..so spoiled, so protected, so brainwashed by politicians who just wanna "Keep us safe " Now look what they have done.
In projecting our fears on these Jihadists we underestimate them completely. We have everything to lose..they have nothing. They have us over a barrel in more ways than one. Declare war ? Puhleeese
The only solution if it isn't too late is to get the hell outta there ,duck and cover and hopefully the dust will settle.
About that special ID for Muslims, - how 'bout yellow stars?
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