Clint For Congress

Platform Plank

Unconstitutional Wars

Clint stands for immediately bringing our troops home from Iraq, Afghanistan, and many of the 130 other countries where we have military forces.

The United States is in a genuine long-run conflict with terrorists, notably Al Qaeda. These terrorists hide out in small groups in dozens of countries. A recent terrorist attack was directed from Yemen; other terrorists are in Pakistan and in Sudan. We cannot defeat the terrorists by occupying nations; we cannot afford to occupy Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, and perhaps dozens of other countries in addition to Iraq and Afghanistan.

No war, with a lie as its foundation, can turn out well. The Iraqi War was based on the lie of weapons of mass destruction, weapons that Iraq never had, along with imagined links to Osama Bin Laden that Iraq never had. This lie by the U.S. government has cost us the lives of more than 4,000 troops, the future of the tens of thousands injured, and more than a trillion dollars in costs. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died, either from our direct military action or in the subsequent and ongoing civil war.

Our initial invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban government, who sheltered Osama Bin Laden, was justified. Our ongoing occupation of Afghanistan is not worth the cost. We cannot win a military victory in this ancient tribal country. We put our troops where they can be easily killed by the Taliban, but not in sufficient numbers to win a victory. We say we are fighting terrorists, while the terrorists are sheltered in Pakistan. We advocate democracy but turn a blind eye when our favored leader steals the election. We advocate economic development but destroy the poppy crops that produce nearly half of Afghanistan’s economic output. We claim to have a strategy for success in a nation that defeated the British and the Soviet Union before us. We are fighting in a country which has had much practice of outlasting occupying powers.

Our current war policy has two other major problems. First, we have fought both of these wars entirely with borrowed money, bringing us that much closer to federal bankruptcy. Second, we need to return to the clear rules of the U.S. Constitution, requiring a Congressional declaration of war for any prolonged military conflict.

Finally, while we cannot eliminate Islamic terrorists, a U.S. policy of non-intervention in foreign conflicts that do not concern us will eliminate unnecessary friction between our country and Muslims.