The Foreign Policy of the U.S. has been less than exemplary for quite a long time. We will start with the fact that the United States has bombed at least 32 countries without a preceding Declaration of War since the end of World War II and go on from there.
Once this issue is addressed, the U.S. responsibility to restore Constitutional Foreign Policy could then be addressed. The End of an Interventionist Foreign Policy will be one result. It will also create a foundation where the end of economic interventionism will follow logically.
As long as a sincere effort is made to address this and related issues, the likelihood of a foundation for World Peace being created increases exponentially.
We can start by addressing the actions taken by the United States starting with the first Iraq War.
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“We must fight to ensure that the Iraq War and its supporters are never rehabilitated by historians or pundits. Nor should the war, its lies, and its crimes ever be forgotten.”-Ryan McMaken “20 Years Later: Remembering the Disastrous and Failed Iraq War”
The Iraq War Ryan McMaken is referring to is actually Iraq War #2, and began with the 2003 invasion.
Its predecessor was just as bad, and possibly even worse. We can start with the fact that (like Iraq War #2) it was an Unconstitutional, Undeclared War. The Unconstitutional, Undeclared War (along with assorted assassinations and overthrown governments) has been a major feature of U.S. Foreign Policy for more than 70 years.
The Constitution provides a straight forward description of the requirements for a Declaration of War:
“The Congress shall have the power to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To Raise and Support Armies…..”-Article One, Section Eight, U.S. Constitution
“Congress ‘ failure to this point to assert its constitutional role in war-making should not preclude its acting now, nor should its history of inaction ever be legitimized as precedent.”- Ed Krayewski, Reason.com
Meeting Constitutional
Requirements
The constitutional requirements for U.S. military action have not been met in over 70 years. Unconstitutional actions taken by the U.S. government have therefore been taken in defiance of the American citizen.
We have, therefore, NEVER ENDORSED THESE ACTIONS. Since the constitutional requirements for military action have not been met since the U.S. declared war on Rumania in 1942, this is a judgement against the unconstitutional foreign policy actions of the U.S. ‘government’.
It should be pointed out that from any moral standpoint, the U.S. Foreign Policy of the last several decades has no credibility. It consists primarily of name-calling and passive-aggressive acts of war (economic sanctions, overthrow of foreign governments, bombing foreign countries without a preceding Declaration of War, murder of innocent civilians through drone attacks, etc.) without ever accepting responsibility.
Informed U.S. citizens therefore have responsibilities to meet. These can be expressed as a Withdrawal of Consent from the foreign policy of the U.S. political establishment. The withdrawal of consent, a concept promoted by Hans-Hermann Hoppe in his book “Democracy: the God That Failed”, can take a number of forms.
A simple withdrawal of consent would quickly become noticeable in public opinion.
These can consist of anything from simply knowing and speaking the truth, engaging in honest discussion and debate, to the active anti-war protests of the 1960s.
The U.S. military is also suffering from a decline in enlistments. This is the beginning of the ‘withdrawal of consent’. Acceptance of Constructive Criticism is the important first step toward addressing this problem.
“What we need is a great awakening in America, one in which people’s consciences once again begin to operate. Once that happens, the American people will be able to restore America’s founding principles of due process of law and America’s founding government system of a limited-government Republic.” -Jacob Hornberger, “Freedom Daily”, March 2020, p.10.
The second Iraq War began with the 2003 U.S. Invasion. It followed the original unconstitutional, undeclared Iraq War that began with the 1991 Invasion.
This was followed by successive U.S. administrations committing Crimes Against Humanity on the Iraqi people. Not only did the U.S. perpetrators suffer no consequences whatsoever, they didn’t even try to hide what they had done.
After the first Iraq War: “The U.S. government instigated one of the most brutal systems of economic sanctions in history on the Iraqi people. Over the next 11 years, the sanctions impoverished most Iraqis, with many Iraqi families having to sell their personal effects just to survive. Even worse, the sanctions began killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, especially given that the sanctions prevented Iraqi officials from repairing those damaged water-and-sewage plants.
U.S. Officials didn’t care. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright expressed the sentiment of the U.S. government when she went on “60 Minutes” and declared that the deaths of half-a-million Iraqi children from the sanctions, while difficult, were “worth it”. That was in 1996. The sanctions continued for another five years, to the total indifference of U.S. officials.” – Jacob Hornberger, “9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq”, Freedom Daily, January 2022, p. 7.
This gives a good description of what U.S. Foreign Policy degenerated into, and why it must be changed and reparations paid.
The U.S. should take the advice Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Ed Clark had for Israel in 1980: “The time to make your peace treaties is when you are at your strongest.”
Accepting constructive criticism and responsibility for misdeeds will allow the U.S. to preserve appearances and ‘save face’.
Every step in the right direction will then lead to another, and every step in the right direction will become a step permanently in the right direction.
1. A Brief Description
of U.S. Foreign Policy
“There is a disturbing pattern over the decades in Washington’s negotiations with countries deemed to be adversaries. It is a tendency to adopt a rigid stance marked by unrealistic demands that make achieving a settlement virtually impossible. Often, harsh economic sanctions against the target country reinforce the provocative diplomatic posture….We are left to wonder whether the approach reflects diplomatic ineptitude or a cynical attempt to force the opposing side to choose between humiliating capitulation or war.”-Ted Galen Carpenter, “Intransigent Diplomacy”, Chronicles, July 2014, p.21.
2. The “Peace Dividend”
Once the Cold War with the Soviet Union ended temporarily in the late 1980s, many Americans felt it was time to reduce military spending, creating what was called a ‘peace dividend’. Instead of allowing this to occur, the U.S. foreign policy establishment immediately went on a ‘search for enemies’, and created a few.
Instead of a “Peace Dividend”, we had G.H.W. Bush attempt to force his ‘new world order’ upon us, starting with the unconstitutional, undeclared war that was the1991 invasion of Iraq.
3. The Lenin and Bush
Revolutions
“The real significance of the Lenin revolution is to be seen in the fact that it was the bursting forth of the principle of unrestricted violence and oppression. It was the negation of all the political ideals that had guided the evolution of Western civilization for three thousand years.”- Ludwig Von Mises
Change ‘Lenin revolution’ to “U.S. foreign policy beginning with the 1991 Bush Invasion of Iraq” and you are describing the same situation.
4. Continuing U.S. Foreign Policy Actions
The U.S. political establishment would like to pretend that the following three actions, when undertaken WITHOUT A PRECEDING DECLARATION OF WAR, are actually justified.
A.Bombing a foreign country
B .Imposing economic sanctions
C. Overthrowing the government of a foreign country
Actually, those actions are a combination of criminality and cowardice, and the perpetrators should be held accountable.
This is highly unlikely to happen, since although they are obviously guilty, they also have access to nuclear and other weapons, the lack of conscience typical of sociopaths, and police state yearnings.
This leaves responsibility with the U.S. citizen, and it will be expressed through withdrawal of consent, reduction of the military budget, and a modern adaptation of the Eric-fine for Homicide.
U.S. foreign policy has been a giant fraud for quite some time. American presidents, particularly Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama, have never been held accountable for their actions, and neither has the U.S. government.
Constructive Criticism is a major requirement in a withdrawal of consent. This leads to the Acceptance of Responsibility as a major requirement for an acceptable solution.
This is a judgement against their actions. Every step in the right direction leads to another.
Restoration of the written Constitution follows logically. Free (or at least, Freer) Trade is an important part of the solution.
5. Countries Bombed Without a Declaration of War
Since World War II, the United States has bombed at least 32 countries without a preceding Declaration of War. This represents roughly one-third of the people on Earth.
A list follows the article.
The United States has also imposed two-thirds of the world’s sanctions since the 1990s. It has imposed economic sanctions on more than 20 countries since 1998.
6. Eric-fine for Homicide
The payment of the judgement against and by the U.S. government will be based on the concept of the Eric-fine for Homicide, a feature of the Celtic Brehon Laws. This is the world’s second oldest legal system, and lasted until the beginning of the 17th Century in Ireland, when Celtic Ireland made it last stand. It was also a feature of Viking Law.
The Eric-fine was a fine paid for the killing of a man off the field of battle, which is homicide. Its successful application led to the prevention of vendettas through paid compensation.
It also freed families from having to maintain the worst type of vendetta, one where one of their own was 60% responsible, 40% responsible, etc.
In this case, it would be applied to unconstitutional actions of the U.S. government only. Any country the U.S. has bombed, placed economic sanctions on, or had its government overthrown without a preceding Declaration of War will receive compensation.
A fourth action by the U.S. Government will also result in compensation being paid. Any country that had toxins dropped on their country as part of the U.S. ‘War on Drugs’ would be entitled to compensation.
An example is given by James Bovard: “The US government was dousing broad swaths of Guatemala with toxins to preemptively destroy anything growing below. The year before I visited, a group of Guatemalan beekeepers sued the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), claiming that the spraying had destroyed half of their industry. Herbicides had contaminated local drinking water and many residents had required hospitalization after exposure to the chemicals. A Guatemalan human rights commission asserted that the spraying had destroyed so many farmers’ corn and bean crops that serious food shortages could result.”
The Fine
The fine would be $1 billion per violation. It will be paid a maximum of once per country. The payment is an admission of guilt or error and an acceptance of Full or Partial Responsibility by the U.S. toward all affected countries.
In other words, if the U.S. placed economic sanctions on a country 10 times without a preceding declaration of war, it would pay $1 billion to that country once.
If the U.S. also bombed that country several times without a preceding declaration of war, that would result in an additional one time only payment of $1 billion.
So Iraq, for example, would receive a one time payment of $3 billion, plus Free (or Freer) Trade for 3 years. A fourth action by the U.S. Government will also result in compensation being paid. Any country that had toxins dropped on their country as part of the U.S. ‘War on Drugs’ would be entitled to compensation of $1 billion once for this infraction.
7. Military Budget Reduction
Budgetary Reduction will occur through a modern adaptation of the Eric-Fine for Homicide. The U.S will pay the Eric-fine once only per violation, and wipe the slate clean.
These payments would be deducted from the annual Military Budget of the U.S., currently over $800 Billion per year.
The Military Budget will never again be increased.
It should also lead to the Military Budget being cut in half fairly quickly.
The U.S. has more conventional weapons than the rest of the world combined, most of which are close to useless in the types of conflict occurring now.
8. Free (or Freer) Trade
In addition, the U.S. would institute either completely Free Trade, or Trade with a maximum tariff of 10%, with the affected countries for 3 years. Ideally this would be reciprocal, but reciprocity is not required.
Reciprocity is obviously in the best interest of these countries, but they should be allowed the chance to be magnanimous toward the U.S. on their own.
After 3 years, the results would be reviewed.
9. Exchange of Ambassadors
Communication between Governments will return to civilized behavior through the exchange of Ambassadors. They will be on a relatively informative, mutually respectful level. It is amazing no one thought of this before.
10. Addressing Current Conflicts
This is the strategy to be used to address current unconstitutional military involvements by the U.S.
A. The U.S. will end all offensive military action.
B. The U.S. will continue to defend any territory it currently holds.
C. The U.S. will call for a cease fire and negotiations.
D. The U.S. will acknowledge that fighting may continue for a time, but that it will be without U.S. involvement. Our position will remain as a call for a cease fire and negotiations, only.
11. The Key Question
Would the U.S. political establishment be willing to accept a judgement against it if the result would be World Peace, Free (or Freer) Trade, and morally upright government limited by a written constitution?
Would it be more acceptable to take the actions that have just been described, or to attempt to continue with the unconstitutional, unjust and failed foreign policy based on False Security that was foisted on this country by the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama Administration?
The choice is clear, and the American Political Establishment no longer has anywhere to hide.
The choice is to either work for Peace on Earth, or succumb to Endless War.
To Repeat: “What we need is a great awakening in America, one in which people’s consciences once again begin to operate. Once that happens, the American people will be able to restore America’s founding principles of due process of law and America’s founding government system of a limited-government Republic.” -Jacob Hornberger, “Freedom Daily”, March 2020, p.10.
12. Applying the Eric-fine
Concept to the
Israel-Hamas War
As stated above in #6, “the Eric-fine was a fine paid for the killing of a man off the field of battle, which is homicide. Its successful application led to the prevention of vendettas through paid compensation.
It also freed families from having to maintain the worst type of vendetta, one where one of their own was 60% responsible, 40% responsible, etc.”
As long as the concept was modified slightly, applying the Eric-fine Concept to the Israel-Hamas War would go a long way toward bringing peace and prosperity to the region.
The first problem is that many people on both sides wish to assign the war guilt completely to the other side. This problem would be eliminated by focusing completely on the next two issues. This would lead to the question regarding assigning war guilt to simply be dropped.
The second problem is to make sure the money is sent to the proper recipients. The third problem is the proper level of compensation to be provided.
The proper level of compensation to be provided will be a one-time payment of $100,000 American dollars, tax free.
The recipients would be the 252 Israeli hostages, or their surviving families, who were taken on October 7 by Hamas, the surviving families of the more than 1,200 Israeli civilians killed by Hamas, and the surviving families of the more than 39,000 Palestinians killed by the Israelis in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
This brings the total to roughly 4.1 Billion, slightly more than the $3.83 Billion the U.S. provided in Foreign Aid to Israel in 2023.
The remaining problem to be addressed is that neither side actually has the money to do it properly. Someone else does.
13. Providing Compensation
The U.S. government (as well as some other interested parties) has the money to do this properly, and has been spending money hand over hand for a never-ending series of foreign policy failures for an extended period of time. A one-time only payment of roughly $4.1 Billion would provide an acceptable level of compensation to the victims and bring the Israel-Hamas War to an acceptable close. It would also provide a basis for prosperity moving forward.
The question regarding assigning war guilt would simply be dropped.
14. U.S. Foreign Aid
“Foreign Aid consists of poor people in wealthy countries sending money to wealthy people in poor countries”- Peter Bauer
The total U.S. Foreign Aid Budget for 2023 was $60.4 Billion. U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel was $3.83 Billion.
It is not exactly news to anyone that much of U.S. Foreign policy is related to Israel. Therefore, the situation between the U.S. and Israel is slightly different from U.S. relation with anyone else, and is addressed slightly differently.
With Israel as the only exception, U.S. Foreign Aid to all other countries would end immediately. This results in a more than $56 Billion Dollar reduction in yearly U.S. Foreign Aid. A one-time expense of an additional $4.1 Billion can be easily absorbed.
15. Addressing U.S. Foreign Policy and Related Issues
The Foreign Policy of the U.S. has been less than exemplary for quite a long time. We will start with the fact that the United States has bombed at least 32 countries without a preceding Declaration of War since the end of World War II and go on from there.
Once this issue is addressed, the U.S. responsibility to restore Constitutional Foreign Policy could then be addressed. The End of an Interventionist Foreign Policy will be one result. It will also create a foundation where the end of economic interventionism will follow logically.
As long as a sincere effort is made to address this and related issues, the likelihood of a foundation for World Peace being created increases exponentially.
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“So by and by way after many years have gone, And all the war freaks die off leaving us alone, To raise our children in the peaceful way we can- It’s up to you and me, brother, to try and try again.”- Gregg Allman, “Ain’t Wasting Time No More”, 1972.
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A list of countries bombed by the U.S. since 1946 is supplied in the article “The All-American Bombardier” by Charles Maurer www.maurer.ca
Afghanistan 1998, 2001-
Bosnia 1994, 1995
Cambodia 1969-70
China 1945-46
Congo 1964
Cuba 1959-1961
El Salvador 1980s
Korea 1950-53
Guatemala 1954, 1960, 1967-69
Indonesia 1958
Laos 1964-73
Grenada 1983
Iraq 1991-2000s, 2015-
Iran 1987
Korea 1950-53
Kuwait 1991
Lebanon 1983, 1984
Libya 1986, 2011-
Nicaragua 1980s
Pakistan 2003, 2006-
Palestine 2010
Panama 1989
Peru 1965
Somalia 1993, 2007-08, 2010-
Sudan 1998
Syria 2014-
Vietnam 1961-73
Yemen 2002, 2009-
Yugoslavia 1999
The list is incomplete. Mali, Nigeria and Kenya have also been bombed by the U.S. without a Declaration of War since 2018 as part of continuing unconstitutional U.S. activity.
“According to the report, the U.S. has provided “counterterrorism” training or assistance in 79 nations since 2018, with U.S. troops carrying out bombing or ground attacks in 10 countries.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen were bombed by the US military. American forces participated in training exercises in 41 nations over the past three years. Additionally, under “Section 127e” programs, U.S. special operations forces have planned, controlled, and participated in missions in numerous African nations. – “Costs of War Project”- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Also these links complement the article:
https://mises.org/wire/thanks-sanctions-us-losing-its-grip-middle-east
https://mises.org/wire/20-years-later-remembering-disastrous-and-failed-iraq-war
https://www.maurer.ca/USBombing.html