Macron Changes Trump’s Tune: ‘We’re Staying In Syria’

Just weeks after vowing to get US troops out of Syria “soon,” a meeting with French President Macron has changed President Trump’s tune. Now he is talking about a large and sustained footprint in Syria to, he claims, keep Iran from taking control of the Mediterranean. Defense Secretary Mattis added that the US must continue occupying Syrian territory until a UN peace process – i.e., “regime change” – can take place. We’re back to 2011…but worse. Trump’s endless flip-flops in today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Ron Paul on Unintended Consequences of Trump’s Syria Attack

President Trump’s recent missile attack on Syria has led the Russians to re-think its decision to put on hold a Syrian government request for the Russian S-300 missile defense system. Particularly with Russian troops still operating in Syria, Russia may well decide to deliver the system to the Assad government. The Israelis, who have conducted more than 100 bombing raids on Syria since the start of the war in 2011, threaten to destroy any missile defense system targeting Israeli planes while they are bombing Syria. Far from solving any strategic or tactical US goals in the region, the US missile attack has made the waters all the more dangerous. Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Ron Paul asks: Will Trump Tear Up Iran Deal? ‘No Plan B’

President Trump has vowed to never again sign the required waiver to allow US participation in the Iran JPCOA deal to continue. He last signed in January and is due to sign again or let the deal fall apart on May 12th. European leaders are desperately trying to convince him to remain in the deal. Trump is demanding new restrictions be unilaterally placed on Iran by the other partners, specifically in the area of ballistic missiles and Iran’s support for militias in Syria fighting ISIS and al-Qaeda. Iran has rejected the idea that it must make new concessions and points to the fact that the US has not lifted sanctions as the deal requires. May is going to be a showdown – who will blink? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Saudi Coalition Kills Scores at a Yemeni Wedding Party

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

Updated below: Reports now say 33-40 killed.

The latest Saudi coalition atrocity against Yemeni civilians was another attack on a wedding party, killing 20 people including the bride and wounding dozens more:

At least 20 people including the bride were killed when an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a wedding party in northern Yemen, health officials have said.

The dead were mostly women and children gathered in a tent set up for the wedding in the Bani Qayis district, according to Khaled al-Nadhri, the leading health official in the north-western Hajjah province.

Hospital chief Mohammed al-Sawmali said the groom and 45 other wounded people were brought to the local al-Jomhouri hospital.

Thirty of those injured were reported to be children, with some in critical condition having suffered severed limbs and shrapnel wounds.

There is no excuse for blowing up a wedding party. There is clearly no military purpose served by attacking these people, and most of the dead and wounded are women and children. The death toll will very likely increase due to the severity of some of the injuries. This is a clear violation of international law, and unfortunately it is just one of thousands like it over the last three years. Other weddings in Yemen have been similarly turned into the sites of Saudi coalition massacres during this war. This is far from the first time this has happened, and unless the Saudi-led war on Yemen is ended it won’t be the last.

The Saudi coalition keeps carrying out these attacks with no regard for the lives of civilians, and our government continues to arm and refuel their planes as they do it. The Saudis and their allies know they can act with complete impunity because the U.S. keeps providing military assistance and diplomatic cover no matter what they do to Yemeni civilians. Our State Department won’t even report on the war crimes that they commit. Instead of being treated as the war criminal that he is during his visit to the U.S., Mohammed bin Salman was feted and embraced by our government, given mostly fawning media coverage, and welcomed by the biggest names in entertainment and business. The murders of these Yemeni women and children and thousands more like them are his doing, and the U.S. is responsible for enabling him and his allies to do it.

The idea that U.S. support is reducing the number of civilian casualties is impossible to take seriously when it seems undeniable that many of the coalition’s attacks on civilians are done on purpose. After three years of bombing and starving Yemen, the coalition is no closer to any of its stated goals, but it has succeeded in raining death and destruction on numerous weddings, funerals, medical clinics, markets, treatment plants, farms, schools, and homes. This is what happens when at least 30% of all coalition strikes hit civilian targets. Providing arms and refueling to the Saudi coalition guarantees that more Yemeni civilians will be killed in this way. For their sake, it is imperative that the U.S. halt its support for this war at once.

Update: The death toll is now reportedly 33 people:

Second Update: CNN confirms 33 killed, at least 41 injured by the strike.

Warning: some graphic images of the aftermath of the attack follow

Daniel Larison is a senior editor at The American Conservative, where he also keeps a solo blog. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and is a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Dallas. Follow him on Twitter. This article is reprinted from The American Conservative with permission.

Sen. Rand Paul: The New AUMF Codifies ‘Forever War’

April 18, 2018

Dear Colleague:

For some time now, Congress has abdicated its authority to declare war. The status quo is that we are at war anywhere and anytime the President says so.

So, Congress’s new solution is not to reassert Congressional prerogative but to codify the status quo.

It is clear upon reading that the Kaine/Corker AUMF gives nearly unlimited power to this or any President to be at war anywhere, anytime and against anyone, with minimal justification and no prior specific authority.

This is not an AUMF, it is a complete rewriting of power of the executive and constitutional separation of powers.

The new Kaine/Corker AUMF declares war on:

  1. The Taliban
  2. Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula
  3. ISIS anywhere
  4. Al-Shabaab in Somalia and elsewhere
  5. Al-Qaeda in Syria
  6. Al-Nusra in Syria
  7. The Haqqani Network in Pakistan and Afghanistan
  8. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Nigeria
  9. AND ASSOCIATED FORCES (as defined by the President) throughout the globe.

Previous AUMF have never codified associated forces. The Kaine/Corker AUMF not only codifies associated forces, but by conservative estimates declares war on over 20 nations with forces "associated" with either Al-Qaeda or ISIS.

Should Congress declare war or not declare war? Absolutely. Should we be having this debate? Absolutely.

Continue reading “Sen. Rand Paul: The New AUMF Codifies ‘Forever War’”

Gideon Levy: A Voice of Sanity From Israel

I first learned of Gideon Levy many years ago, during a casual conversation with an Israeli human rights activist. He told me that he had asked Levy why was he such a serious critic of Israel’s government and its policies with the Palestinians. Levy, whose own father was a German Jewish refugee who had settled in Israel, responded, "I don’t want Israelis to say that they didn’t know."

Levy frequently travels to and writes about the Occupied Territories. As a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Levy wants to show the evils of the occupation and how it hurts not only the Palestinians but also the Israel that he loves so much. "I am an Israeli patriot. I want to be proud of my country. I want us to do the right thing," he declared. His writing has gained him several prestigious awards, but also the hatred of many Israelis and several personal attacks.

Continue reading “Gideon Levy: A Voice of Sanity From Israel”