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Balkinization Symposiums: A Continuing List                                                                E-mail: Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu David Luban david.luban at gmail.com Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu Compendium of posts on Hobby Lobby and related cases The Anti-Torture Memos: Balkinization Posts on Torture, Interrogation, Detention, War Powers, and OLC The Anti-Torture Memos (arranged by topic) Recent Posts "An age without surrender ceremonies"
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Sunday, October 31, 2010
"An age without surrender ceremonies"
Mary L. Dudziak
Here’s a snippet from the book I’m finishing up this fall. This passage is about what I think of as President Obama’s “Mission Accomplished” moment, and it raises questions about how to think about the role of wartime in American history during a period when wars don’t seem to end.
Comments:
If we ever get to a Constitutional Convention, perhaps the "war" experiences of the 20th and 21st (still in progress) centuries may require a closer look at the "Commander-In-Chief" role of the President. But for the reactions to the draft, might Vietnam have continued on, perhaps leading to dominos falling? We don't have a draft today and in these important 2010 midterm elections the current wars (Afganistan and, yes, Iraq!), are apparently NOT of major concern to voters. I'm thinking of the Seinfeld episode, where Jerry told Elaine that the title originally proposed for "War and Peace" was "War, What is It Good For?" When we look back, can we say "Absolutely Nothing" when it come to our current wars? Or were the Three Stooges prescient with their feature "Oil's Well That Ends Well"? Mary's closing sentence says it well:
"The circularity befitted what the president called 'an age without surrender ceremonies;' an age when conflict could end, even as it remained on-going." Which reminds me of Groucho Marx in "Animal Crackers" about going/staying.
William J. Astore's sobering essay at TomDispatch (10/31/10) "The New American Isolationism - The Cost of Turning Away from War's Horrific Realties" in its penultimate paragraph tells us:
"Today, Americans are again an isolationist people, but with a twist. Even as we expand our military bases overseas and spend trillions on national security and wars, we’ve isolated ourselves from war’s passions, its savagery, its heartrending sacrifices. Such isolation comforts some and seemingly allows others free rein to act as they wish, but it’s a false comfort, a false freedom, purchased at the price of prolonging our wars, increasing their casualties, abridging our freedoms, and eroding our country’s standing in the world." Let's ask again, "War, What Is It Good For?" The military-industrial complex? And David Broder suggests in his recent WaPo column that Obama should consider going to war with Iran as a means of pulling America out of the Bush/Cheney Great Recession. What we need is "SANITY NOW!" But there is no "Sanity Clause" in the Constitution, despite its empowering Congress to declare war.
I think the surrender ceremonies have morphed into the interfactional compromises conducted to form weak governments, rather than taking the form of the pomp and circumstance of truce and armistice led by civilian and military conventional brass. The extending of financial support to militias begins the process of coordination and negotiation. One of the difficult spheres in the metamorphosis to postbellum civil rule is the issue of the Establishment Clause in its various permutations; for example, consider the structure of family law courts in Kenya, and that nation's recent referenda for constitutional revisions affecting related matters, as well as addressing other elements of the executive branch's part in filling that country's judiciary.
The kind of cash-for-polity deals developed in Iraq under US participation appear to have analogs currently in Afghanistan as the US administration continues its drive toward some quantifiable drawdown of military presence.
Surrender ceremonies occur between nation states. America has simply gone back to the low intensity wars of its past like the Indian wars, Philippines, Central America, Haiti, etc. Low intensity wars do not end so much as they peter out as the enemy disbands.
Low intensity wars do not end so much as they peter out as the enemy disbands.
# posted by Bart DePalma : 3:30 PM Or we finally realize there is no point in pissing away lives and money for nothing. That appears to finally be the case in Iraq, and will eventually happen in Afghanistan.
From the thin air of the hills of CO, we hear this:
"America has simply gone back to the low intensity wars of its past like the Indian wars, Philippines, Central America, Haiti, etc. Low intensity wars do not end so much as they peter out as the enemy disbands." Once again, our former Backpacker come up with "simply" to describe a situation that is quite complex. Was Iraq a low intensity war that has petered out as the enemy disbands? (Query: has the enemy really disbanded in Iraq?) I wonder what the dead and injured on both sides in Iraq might think of this analysis? Mary's snippet focuses upon Iraq and President Obama's "Mission Accomplished" moment. And how inexpensive was Iraq as a low intensity war? Perhaps our former Backpacker's goal is to minimize the Iraq War for the benefit of the Bush/Cheney image? And Afghanistan is comparable to Haiti, Central America? "Simply" doesn't fit the situation of Mary's snippet but is reflective of its author.
America has simply gone back to the low intensity wars of its past like the Indian wars, Philippines, Central America, Haiti, etc. Surrender ceremonies occur between nation states. Low intensity wars do not end so much as they peter out as the enemy disbands. We love travel to China mainland, we love Beijing Tours to the Great Wall, Xian Tour to the Terra Cotta Warriors and China train ticket service helped us alot.
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