In a piece titled Return of the Anti-Interventionist Right, Pat Buchanan quietly noted a change in Sarah Palin’s foreign policy comments toward a less-interventionist position. Pat also notes the removal of neocon Randy Scheunemann from Palin’s staff of advisors, replaced by Peter Schweizer who holds a less interventionist position. That’s a big break with Palin’s mentor, John McCain, who is close with Scheunemann. Pat goes on to explain a recent vote in the House of Representatives, where 87 GOP members, along with many Democrats, voted to end the Libyan engagement in 15 days. Pat suggests a “shift in political and public sentiment away from military interventionism,” that comes on the back of “the length and cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — the first in its 10th year, the latter in its eighth — with their endless bleedings of American blood and treasure for inconclusive results. Over 6,000 dead, 40,000 wounded and $1 trillion sunk…”
In a piece that opposed Buchanan on every point, The Wall Street Journal editors smeared those Republicans voting against the continuation of the Libyan intervention as “Kucinich Republicans,” associating the Republican congressmen with the uber-liberal Dennis Kucinich, sponsor of the resolution. The editors came down squarely behind the president’s authority to prosecute war wherever and whenever he deems fit, writing, “The Constitution gave Congress the right to declare war but gave the President the power to manage conflicts and use the armed forces when needed as Commander in Chief. A President can act with vigor and dispatch in a way that Congress cannot, and he is politically accountable for the results in a way that a committee of 535 would-be generals will never be.”
Congressman Allen West: “Well the Libyan question is very simple, “What’s the mission?” And no one has been able to answer that. It has gone from protecting innocent civilians to attacking Gadhafi’s forces, to having Moammar Gadhafi removed.” httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHK_HWN9K_Q&feature=player_embedded
On the other end of the interventionist spectrum lie Kimberly and Frederick Kagan, who recently wrote We Have the Momentum in Afghanistan, which was published in The Wall Street Journal. The Kagans are of the mind that “nothing about conditions on the ground justifies the withdrawal of any U.S. or coalition forces.” They also write, “Progress in the fight is undeniable.” But this begs the question, progress towards what goal?
Supporters of Congressman Ron Paul, a long-time noninterventionist in the GOP, donated $1 million to his 2012 presidential campaign on Sunday in a “money bomb” fundraiser.
While the pols in Washington are dithering over the legality of the president’s war in Libya, most Americans are concerned with the 9.1% rate of unemployment, near $4.00 gasoline prices, and the skyrocketing prices of food. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be giving a speech in Atlanta, where it looks like he will declare full speed ahead on his current policy. What will the chairman say? As Jeremy Jones wrote at Youngresearch.com, “The Federal Reserve told us last month that the softness we saw in the economy in the first quarter was transitory. It was blamed on bad weather, the earthquake in Japan, and geopolitical events in the Middle East. That hypothesis now seems in doubt. Data released for April show that the second quarter is off to a slow start.” Read his piece, A Bundle of Dismal Data for more.
