Malaysian Airlines, Ukraine, and The Great American Intervention Machine

I was glad to hear Barack Obama
suggest that he needed more information related to the shooting
down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 before deciding on a cause
of action. Perhaps this time, he’ll involve Congress and the
American people in whatever comes next.

Here’s my latest Time.com column, which talks about the
need for a serious national conversation about foreign
policy.

Even with little in the way of concrete knowledge — much less
clear, direct ties to American lives and interests — what might be
called the Great U.S. Intervention Machine is already kicking into
high gear. This is unfortunate, to say the least.

After a decade-plus of disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that
resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people
(including almost 7,000 American soldiers) and constitutionally
dubious and strategically vague interventions in places such as
Libya, it is well past time for American politicians, policymakers,
and voters to stage a national conversation about U.S. foreign
policy. Instead, elected officials and their advisers are always
looking for the next crisis over which to puff up their chests and
beat war drums.

And there’s this:

When the United States uses its unrivaled military power
everywhere and all the time, we end up accomplishing far less than
hawks desire. Being everywhere and threatening action all the time
dissipates American power rather than concentrates it. Contra John
McCain and Hillary Clinton, whatever happened in Ukrainian airspace
doesn’t immediately or obviously involve the United States, even
with the loss of an American citizen. The reflexive call for action
is symptomatic of exactly what we need to stop doing, at least if
we want to learn from the past dozen-plus years of our own
failures.

President Obama is right to move cautiously regarding a U.S.
response. He would be wiser still to use the last years of his
presidency to begin the hard work of forging a foreign-policy
consensus that all Americans can actually get behind, not just in
this situation but in all the others we will surely encounter.