Prepare for War: Obama Asks Congress for ISIS War Authorization; Republican Hawks Have War Plan Prepared; Clinton-McCain?!

Prepare for war. Where? Syria, Iraq, Russia, Iran, China, anywhere and everywhere.

Warmonger in chief, senator John McCain wants troops in Syria, arms for Ukraine, an examination of "China’s continued encroachment in the south China Sea", and an investigation into warming relations with Iran.

McCain is set to take over as head of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Expect the other party of war, the Democrats, to cooperate. On Wednesday, Obama Asked Congress to Authorize Islamic State War.

After insisting for months that he has all the authority he needs to launch the airstrikes already under way against the radical Sunni group, Obama reversed course and called for a new authorization for the use of military force a day after his party lost control of the Senate.

“The world needs to know we are united behind this effort and the men and women of our military deserve our clear and unified support,” Obama said yesterday at a White House news conference.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold hearings on the U.S. role in Iraq and Syria beginning next week, Senator Robert Menendez, the panel’s chairman, said in a statement.

The New Jersey Democrat has said a congressional authorization should be “appropriate in scope and duration to meet the threat and sustain the fight” without having an “indefinite duration.”

Obama has approved airstrikes against the extremists who have seized swaths of Iraq and Syria, and he’s deployed U.S. military teams to assess and advise the Iraqi military.

The administration has said it’s carrying out the offensive under the use-of-force authorization Congress approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as under his constitutional powers as commander in chief.

Bill to Authorize Perpetual War

President Obama previously said that he does not need authorization to strike ISIS because of his "constitutional powers as commander in chief".

Excuse me for asking but what powers are those? Since when does the president get to declare war?

I guess it's time to formalize the transfer of power to declare war from Congress to the president.

Menendez wants a bill “appropriate in scope and duration to meet the threat and sustain the fight” without having an “indefinite duration.”

Translation: Menendez wants an indefinite duration, an open ended agenda, and no cost limits. McCain will surely see the bill gets revised that way.

No president would ever refuse to sign such a bill. And when it happens, the power to declare war will formally be handed over from Congress to the president. Not that it matters in the least. Presidents do what they want, when they want.

Republican Hawks Have War Plan Prepared

The American public surely does not want war, and we cannot afford more wars either. But who gives a damn about that?

Multiple wars are now baked in the cake as Republican Hawks Already Have a War Plan for ISIS, Ukraine, and Obama.

The Republican victory in the 2014 midterms is less than 24 hours old. But already, the hawkish wing of the GOP is planning an ambitious battle plan to revamp American foreign policy: everything from arming Ukraine’s military to reviewing the ISIS war to investigating the U.S. intelligence community’s role in warming relations with Iran.

In an interview Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he has already discussed a new national security agenda with fellow Republicans Bob Corker and Richard Burr, the likely incoming chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“Burr and Corker and I will be working closely together on everything,” McCain said. “For example, arms for Ukraine’s [government], examination of our strategy in the Middle East, our assets with regard to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in the region, China’s continued encroachment in the south China Sea.”

McCain said his first order of business as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee will be to end the budget rule known as sequestration, which requires the U.S. military to cut its budget across the board. “I want to start an examination of our policies in the world and then find out whether we have the capability to meet these expectations,” McCain said.

Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican likely to replace Rep. Mike Rogers as the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told The Daily Beast Wednesday that he would like to begin digging into the administration’s Iran talks—in particular, the role played in those talks by the U.S. intelligence community. “There is going to be real scrutiny from the House and Senate in what’s taken place on the entire Obama administration’s tenure dealing with the Iranians,” Nunes said.

On Wednesday Obama said he would ask Congress to vote on the new war against ISIS during the lame duck session of Congress that starts in December.

“I think it’s time for an AUMF [Authorization for the Use of Military Force], I do,” McCain said. “The one passed after 9-11 specifically talks about the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks and ISIS has exceeded that definition.”

Budget-hypocrite McCain never says how he is going to pay for these wars. McCain even voted for sequestration.

To be fair, he called that his worst vote ever. But also to be fair, he should say how we pay for all this.

McCain Prefer Hillary Over Rand Paul?

Curiously, in a 2013 New Republic interview, McCain said "Tough Choice" Between Hillary Clinton and Rand Paul should those be the two nominees.

McCain answered "tough choice", when asked who he would support in 2016 should it come down to Hillary Clinton and Rand Paul.

Senior editor Isaac Chotiner who conducted the interview stated "in a way he seemed to be joking a little bit, but he didn't correct it at all."

Here's the video with Chotiner's explanation.

Clinton-McCain Axis

Said McCain of Hillary when asked about her performance as Secretary of State "I think she did a fine job. She’s a rock star. She has, maybe not glamour, but certainly the aura of someone widely regarded throughout the world."

Distancing herself from president Obama, Hillary has since recommended nearly the same strategy as McCain when it comes to dealing with Syria and ISIS.

Clinton-McCain 2016 Anyone?

So which is the party of war? They both are.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com