Re: "Wartime malaise is the result of Congress not making formal declarations of war. It happened in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq."
I agree with that theory. By side-stepping the clear standards in the US Constitution for making war, instead of being perceived by the public as a national struggle, it increasingly becomes seen as merely a whim of the Executive. (And, since it is the Executive which side-stepped the Constitution, wanting to have their cake and eat it too... this becomes a fully avoidable resultant.)
Once engaged, mission creep, instead of clearly defined strategic objectives, come to define the enterprise, (a prescription for failure).
Further, by wanting to 'make war' 'on the cheap', by *not* formally declaring it, by *not* acquiring that imprimatur of authorization from the nation, the hurdles to making war are LOWERED, and we find ourselves embroiled in many more, halfway-engaged, 'little' wars of DUBIOUS necessity or validity, compromised from the very beginning.
In the current circumstance, by trying to divert the public's attention with 'bait and switch' tactics, by actually protecting the heart of the problem, Saudi/Pakistani Wahabbists and their stream of jihadists, by GRANTING Islamic extremists sanctuary in Pakistan, by actually ALLOWING their leadership to fly there to safety directly from their crumbling, soon-to-be-overrun redoubts in Afghanistan... by trying to keep this 'war' on the cheap, only going after low-hanging fruits (like Saddam's decrepit regime --- not even part of the jihadist threat :-), by refusing to seek Constitutional validation of a direction and a strategy... the groundwork for a sad and harmful result is laid. |
