US Action in Mali is Another Undeclared War
by Rep. Ron Paul, January 29, 2013
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President Obama last week began his second term by promising that "a
decade of war is now ending." As he spoke, the US military was rapidly
working its way into another war, this time in the impoverished African
country of Mali. As far as we know, the US is only providing transport
and intelligence assistance to France, which initiated the intervention
then immediately called Washington for back-up and funding. However,
even if US involvement is limited, and, as Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta said, US boots on the ground are not being considered "at this
time," this clearly is developing into another war. .
As usual, the mission is creeping.
Within the first week of French military action in Mali, the promise
that it would be a quick operation to put down an Islamic rebel advance
toward the capitol was broken. France announced that it would be forced
to send in thousands of troops and would need to remain far longer than
the few weeks it initially claimed would be necessary.
Media questions as to whether the US has Special Operations forces,
drones, or CIA paramilitary units active in Mali are unanswered by the
Administration.
Congress has asked few questions and demanded few answers from the
president. As usual, it was not even consulted. But where does the
president get the authority to become a co-combatant in French
operations in Mali, even if US troops are not yet overtly involved in
the attack?
How did we get to Mali? Blowback and unintended consequences played key
roles. When the president decided to use the US military to attack Libya
in 2011, Congress was not consulted. The president claimed that UN and
NATO authority for the use of US military force were sufficient and even
superior to any kind of Congressional declaration.
Congress once again relinquished its authority, but also its oversight
power, by remaining silent. That meant the difficult questions such as
why is the action necessary, what would it entail, and what kind of
unintended consequences might we see if the operation does not go
exactly as planned, were neither asked nor answered.
When Gaddafi was overthrown in Libya, many fighters from Mali who had
lived in Libya and been trained by Gaddafi's military returned to their
home country with sophisticated weapons and a new determination to
continue their fight for independence for northern Mali. Thus the
France-initiated action against Libya in 2011 led to new violence and
instability in Mali that France decided it must also address. Shortly
after the French attack on Mali, rebels in Algeria attacked a BP gas
facility in retaliation for their government's decision to allow foreign
military to fly over Algerian territory en route to Mali. Thus the
action in Mali to solve the crisis created by the prior action in Libya
is turning into a new crisis in Algeria. This is the danger of
interventionism and, as we saw in Vietnam more than four decades ago, it
threatens to drag the US further into the conflict. And Congress is
AWOL.
There is a reason why the framers of our Constitution placed the
authority to declare war strictly with the Legislative Branch of
government. They knew well that kings were all too willing to go to war
without the consent of those who would do the killing and dying - and
funding. By placing that authority in Congress, the people's branch of
government, they intended to blunt the executive branch's enthusiasm
toward overseas adventurism. The consequences of this steady erosion of
our system toward the unitary executive are dire.
http://original.antiwar.com/paul/2013/01/28/us-action-in-mali-is-another-undeclared-war/
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Read more by Rep. Ron Paul
On Obama's New National Security Team, Keep Your Eye on the Policy -
January 15th, 2013
NDAA Fuels Militarization, Enriches
Defense Corporations, Expands Empire - December 20th, 2012
Expanding Covert Warfare Makes Us Less Safe - December 10th, 2012
How to End the Gaza Violence - November 26th, 2012
Intervention Backfires in Libya - September 17th, 2012