ICYMI: How American Soldiers Became Lawyers With Guns
Angry Planet1 Sep 2017

ICYMI: How American Soldiers Became Lawyers With Guns

More than 11,000 U.S. soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan right now. U.S. President Donald Trump plans to send 4,000 more. Military advisers are overseeing the war against the Islamic State and American military equipment and expertise helped retake Mosul. Drones launch from bases in Africa and the Middle East to conduct targeted killings against high value targets from Djibouti to Pakistan. U.S. Special Operations Forces operate across the globe in various capacities. Most of these missions are classified.


So America’s at war, right? Legally, no.


War, as we normally define it, no longer makes sense. There’s no draft — and only one percent of the U.S. population is in the military. The government isn’t levying special taxes or issuing bonds to pay for the fighting. And all this “war” — drone strikes, Special Forces deployments, air strikes and aircraft carrier deployments — is happening with little public scrutiny.


This week on War College, we sit down with Rosa Brooks to figure out how America barreled headlong into a permanent war without defining the terms or thinking about the consequences. Brooks is a former U.S. State Department official and the author of the book How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales From the Pentagon.


Brooks argues that U.S. citizens and lawmakers should shake off fears of appearing unpatriotic to challenge the government’s unchecked, unilateral and covert military activities abroad. If that doesn’t happen soon, she says, the United States may have to pay for the dangerous example it’s setting for Russia and China.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(497)

How to Count Nuclear Weapons

How to Count Nuclear Weapons

Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com/No one is really sure how many nuclear weapons are out there. Every number you see is a best guess. Russia and the U.S. have the mo...

12 Jun 202459min

TEASER: Checking In On the Online Nazis With Jason Wilson

TEASER: Checking In On the Online Nazis With Jason Wilson

Sign up at angryplanetpod.com to get instant access to the full episode.A direct link to the episode on Substack.American politics was bizarre in 2016. Alt-right figures dominated many news cycles and...

6 Jun 202413min

The FBI’s Chat App and the Biggest Sting Operation In History

The FBI’s Chat App and the Biggest Sting Operation In History

International criminal organizations are more concerned about message security than the average citizen. The end-to-end encryption of WhatsApp or Signal is great, but drug traffickers are looking for ...

5 Jun 202453min

Ships: America Doesn't Build Them Like It Used To (Or at All)

Ships: America Doesn't Build Them Like It Used To (Or at All)

A lot goes into keeping a navy afloat. There’s ship husbanding, maintenance, and buckets of haze gray. The U.S. used to be good at this, but it hasn’t been on an active war-footing for a long time and...

30 Mai 20241h

TEASER: The Case for World War III Breaking Out This Summer

TEASER: The Case for World War III Breaking Out This Summer

Sign up at angryplanetpod.com to get instant access to the full episode.A direct link to the episode on Substack.The big picture in Europe doesn’t look good. Russia is moving to encircle key cities in...

22 Mai 202412min

The Horrors Behind Your Frozen Shrimp

The Horrors Behind Your Frozen Shrimp

Americans love shrimp. They love it so much they don’t think too hard about where it comes from—or the virtual slaves who are farming them. Joshua Farinella doesn’t have that luxury.A few years ago, F...

20 Mai 202448min

TEASER: Russian Murderers Who Go to War and Come Home to Kill Again

TEASER: Russian Murderers Who Go to War and Come Home to Kill Again

Sign up at angryplanetpod.com to get instant access to the full episode.A direct link to the episode on Substack.In Russia there’s a revolving door between prisons and the frontlines. What began as a ...

2 Mai 202411min

Americans in Ukraine Looking for ‘Daybreak’

Americans in Ukraine Looking for ‘Daybreak’

Luke Paxton and Han Lee know a good cause when they see one. When Russia invades Ukraine in 2022, the American vets know what they need to do. Their time in Afghanistan has given them the skills to he...

29 Apr 20241h 1min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

aftenpodden
giver-og-gjengen-vg
stopp-verden
popradet
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
det-store-bildet
rss-gukild-johaug
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-ness
hanna-de-heldige
fotballpodden-2
nokon-ma-ga
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik
e24-podden
aftenbla-bla
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-dannet-uten-piano
bt-dokumentar-2