The tragedy of four dead American soldiers in Niger has revealed a national knowledge gap at the highest levels, Bonnie Kristian writes. We need a clear-eyed accounting of the need for a military presence in as many as 20 African countries.
This reckless, forever-war approach is utterly incompatible with responsible, effective foreign policy. It ignores all strategic questions about whether it is “incumbent upon the United States to police vast swaths of the planet in perpetuity.” And, if not, why our government has committed us to exactly that.
As this tragedy in Niger has too vividly demonstrated, Graham’s approach risks American lives in conflicts in so many different places around the globe that politicians can’t even be bothered to notice. This approach is also incompatible with the Constitution’s explicit delegation of the power to “declare war” to Congress, a phrasing James Madison noted was intended to communicate that though the president is allowed “the power to repel sudden attacks” on U.S. soil, the executive branch cannot “commence war” on its own.
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