December, 15 2011, 04:26pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Caitlin MacNeal,COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER,(202) 347-1122,cmacneal@pogo.org
Is the U.S. State Department up to the Post-War Challenges in Iraq?
Statement of Danielle Brian, Executive Director, Project On Government Oversight
WASHINGTON
With the nation's attention focused on today's end of the war in Iraq, it's easy to overlook the unprecedented challenge ahead for the U.S. Department of State.
Although the troops are on their way home, the U.S. is planning to maintain a sizeable footprint in Iraq. The presence will reportedly include four major diplomatic centers and some 15,000 personnel. It's expected to cost about $3.8 billion for the first year alone.
To meet this challenge, which includes managing everything from transportation to food services, the U.S. Government will rely heavily on the use of contractors. And because Iraq still resembles a war zone, the State Department is planning to more than double its reliance on private security contractors.
From the Blackwater shootings in Nissour Square to the Lord of the Flies environment at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the State Department's history of managing contractors is reason for concern. With the absence of a permanent Inspector General and the coming end of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, these concerns are all the more heightened.
After the White House finishes with today's celebration, we hope it wastes no time in focusing on the need to improve its game when it comes to oversight of the contractors we are leaving behind.
The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is an independent nonprofit that investigates and exposes corruption and other misconduct in order to achieve a more effective, accountable, open and honest federal government.
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The two write that time is of the essence: "As Donald Trump prepares to return to the Oval Office, it is more important than ever to take the power to start a nuclear war out of the hands of a single individual and ensure that Congress's constitutional role is respected and fulfilled."
The Constitution vests Congress, not the president, with the power to declare war (though presidents have used military force without getting the OK from Congress on multiple occasions in modern history, according to the National Constitution Center).
During the Cold War, when nuclear weapons policy was produced, speed was seen as essential to deterrence, according to Jon Wolfsthal, the director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists, who wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post last year that makes a similar argument to Markey and Lieu.
"There is no reason today to rely on speedy decision-making during situations in which the United States might launch first. Even as relations with Moscow are at historic lows, we are worlds removed from the Cold War's dominant knife's-edge logic," he wrote.
While nuclear tensions today may not be quite as high as they were during the apex of the Cold War, fears of nuclear confrontation have been heightened due to poor relations between the United States and Russia over the ongoing war in Ukraine, among other issues. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree lowering the threshold for potential nuclear weapons use not long after the U.S. greenlit Ukraine's use of U.S.-supplied long range weapons in its fight against Russia.
This is not the first time Markey and Lieu have pushed for greater guardrails on nuclear first-use. The two are the authors of the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act, a proposed bill first introduced in 2017 that would bar a U.S. president from launching a nuclear first strike without the consent of Congress.
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As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians."
Last month, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel's 433-day Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 162,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing in the embattled enclave.
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