Jim McGovern Archives - Just Foreign Policy

Tell Trump: he has 48 hours to report on his unauthorized Syria strike

April 8, 2017

On Thursday, April 6, President Trump attacked Syria without Congressional authorization, violating the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution. Following Nixon’s unauthorized escalations of the Vietnam War, the Congressional Framers of the War Powers Resolution knew that it was likely that future Presidents would try to use military force without Congressional authorization. That’s why they…

Commentary

Sunset an Authorization for the Use of Force in Iraq

August 25, 2014

Judging from press reports, when Congress returns from its August recess in early September, the United States military will have been bombing "Islamic State" fighters in Iraq for a month, with a broader set of missions than originally advertised, and with plans to continue bombing for months. The United States Constitution and the 1973 War Powers…

Commentary

Keep U.S. Troops in Afghanistan? Let Congress Vote!

November 3, 2013

In mid-November, the Christian Science Monitor reports, a loya jirga in Afghanistan – a national meeting of tribal leaders and other notable Afghans – will vote on whether to meet the Obama administration’s terms for keeping U.S. troops in the country beyond the end of 2014. If you care about democracy in Afghanistan, you should…

Commentary

Yes, Virginia, We Can Do Something About the Drone Strikes

June 1, 2012

There’s a conventional wisdom in Washington that there’s nothing we can do politically to stop the U.S. government from killing innocent civilians with drone strikes. But it ain’t necessarily so. Speaking only for myself, I’m willing to stipulate that killing "high value terrorists" who are known to be actively preparing to kill Americans is wildly…

Commentary

On Afghanistan, the Pentagon Has Lost the American People

May 18, 2012

"I can’t let this be a war without end, and I can’t lose the whole Democratic Party." That was President Obama, describing his Afghan war policy, according to Bob Woodward’s 2010 book. But until this moment the Administration is still letting it be a war without end, and the Afghan war policy has lost not…

Commentary

House Moots Afghan Exit, Iran War, Military Budget, and “Signature” Drone Strikes

May 17, 2012

On Wednesday and Thursday, the House is expected to take up consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act. Amendments will be offered to expedite military withdrawal from Afghanistan, to oppose war with Iran, to cut the military budget, and to stop "signature" drone strikes that target people without knowing who will be killed. According…

Commentary

Asserting War Powers, House Moves To End Afghanistan, Libya Wars

May 27, 2011

Voting on amendments on the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, the House of Representatives took action to hasten the end of the wars in Afghanistan and Libya. Afghanistan By a 204-215 vote [roll call] – six switchers would have passed the amendment – the House narrowly failed to adopt a bipartisan amendment from Reps. Jim…

Commentary

After OBL: McGovern/Jones Push for Real Withdrawal Plan

May 6, 2011

Following the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the floodgates opened in Washington this week for reconsideration of U.S. plans to continue the open-ended war in Afghanistan. Now Representatives Jim McGovern and Walter Jones have introduced the "Afghanistan Exit and Accountability Act," bipartisan legislation that would require the President present to Congress a timetable…

Commentary

Did Voters Give Republicans a Mandate for More War?

November 5, 2010

Everybody knows that the recent election was all about the economy, right? Nobody would claim that American voters just gave Republicans a mandate for more war, would they? Here we go: Republican Senator John McCain said on Tuesday in the wake of big Republican victories in Congress that he hopes President Barack Obama will…

Commentary

Bacevich: Vietnam vs. Munich, and Creating an “Iraq/Afghanistan Syndrome”

August 3, 2010

Campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008, Senator Barack Obama said: "I don’t want to just end the war, but I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place." But as Andrew Bacevich notes in his new book, "Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War," as President, Barack…

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