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…
Just over a week ago, the Senate fell one vote short of overcoming a Republican filibuster to pass a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed. The New York Times reported: Republicans and Democrats, many from the nation’s most economically depressed states, had been trying to reach a solution that would allow people who have exhausted their unemployment…
by Robert Naiman The Senate Intelligence Committee recently took an important step by passing an intelligence authorization which would require for the first time – if it became law – that the Administration publicly report on civilian casualties from U.S. drone strikes. Sarah Knuckey, Director of the Project on Extrajudicial Executions at New York University…
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…
We have just a week left to help Burlington, Vermont kill the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the biggest taxpayer ripoff in human history. On Monday, October 7, the Burlington City Council will vote on a binding resolution that would block F-35 warplanes from being based at Burlington International Airport, which is owned by the city. If…
On Sunday, Republican Sen. Bob Corker and Rep. Eliot Engel – a Democrat who voted for the Iraq war – told Fox News that President Obama should strike Syria first and get Congressional approval afterwards. That’s not how the U.S. Constitution says it should go. That’s not how the War Powers Resolution (which, despite the name "resolution," is binding U.S. law) says it…
This is slightly adapted from a presentation given at a Congressional briefing on drone strike policy on November 16, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. I want to talk about what Congress could do about drone strikes in the next 1-2 years. To begin with, some political context, as I see it. First, I don’t think…
Hey, remember a few weeks ago when our old friend Bibi Netanyahu came to town and made a hullabaloo over Iran and “red lines”? Admittedly, much of what the Bibster said to the US media was bluster, but the gist of the “red line” issue was that the “red line” President Obama has set for…
This week, a series of showdowns is expected in the House over the Pentagon budget, when House Members vote on amendments to the Defense Appropriations Bill to cut the overall level of military spending, end or limit the war in Afghanistan, and draw down troops permanently stationed in Europe. What happens in these votes will…
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…