{"id":147666,"date":"2015-04-30T20:10:52","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T20:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=147666"},"modified":"2015-04-30T20:13:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T20:13:00","slug":"americas-double-standards-on-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/war-terrorism\/americas-double-standards-on-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"America&#8217;s double standards on the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Paul R. Pillar<\/p>\n<p>The role that the U.S. Congress has assumed for itself as a player in foreign policy exhibits an odd and indefensible pattern these days. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismurphy.com\/page\/s\/double-standard\">calls it a \u201cdouble standard,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0although that might be too mild a term.<\/p>\n<p>On one hand there are vigorous efforts to insert Congress into the negotiation of an agreement on Iran\u2019s nuclear program. The efforts extend even to attempts to interfere in the details of what is being negotiated, as reflected in a string of amendments being considered in debate in the Senate this week on a bill laying out a procedure for Congress to pass a quick judgment on the agreement. On the other hand there is inaction, with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/defense\/238619-gop-obama-war-request-is-dead\">little or no prospect of any action<\/a>, on an authorization for the use of military force against the so-called Islamic State.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.toolsforfreedom.com\/US-Empire-is-a-Reality-p\/2150.htm\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-147669\" src=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/usa-empire.gif\" alt=\"usa-empire\" width=\"226\" height=\"214\" \/><\/a>That combination is exactly the opposite of the roles Congress should play, taking into account first principles of when and why the people\u2019s representatives ought to weigh in on the conduct of the nation\u2019s foreign relations.<\/p>\n<p>Going to war is probably the most consequential thing the nation can do overseas. It entails substantial costs to the nation, and as recent experience should remind us, carries the risk of far greater costs, both human and material, than may have been anticipated at the outset. It is quite appropriate for such a departure not to be left solely in the hands of the executive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2015\/04\/30\/mixed-signals-on-the-middle-east\/\" target=\"_blank\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul R. Pillar The role that the U.S. Congress has assumed for itself as a player in foreign policy exhibits an odd and indefensible pattern these days. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut,\u00a0calls it a \u201cdouble standard,\u201d\u00a0although that might be too mild a term. On one hand there are vigorous efforts to insert Congress into the negotiation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-147666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-war-terrorism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}