I’d really like to see how Edwards, Obama, and Clinton would respond to this two part question:
(1) On what basis do we have the right to send in troops after Al Qaeda in Pakistan against the order of the Pakistani government, or to make the unilateral decision to launch an attack on Iran?
(2) Under what circumstances, if any, would we confer the right of such an attack against us or an ally of ours to another nation?
If I recall, all three candidates have essentially stated that they would be willing to send in troops to Pakistan or Iran under certain circumstances (with varying degrees of blustering about exploring/exhausting diplomatic options beforehand), but I haven’t seen the legal or ethical basis of that willingness questioned. I wonder if they would fall back on some notion that we are the leading superpower and the strongest military and it’s our role to police the role, or whether they have other reasons for feeling the need to keep that option on the table. It would be nice to hear the reasoning, anyways.
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