Hagel Gone, More War On The Way

++President Obama will accept the resignation of Chuck Hagel today as the Administration looks beyond the days of the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan to a "new phase" in the war against ISIS.

++The next two years will be Non-Stop War 24/7.

++Even Rand Paul is getting into the action. He is introducing a bill declaring war against Isis. He wants to get proper with the Deep State.

++I watched Jimmy Carter's talk at the JFK Memorial Library this weekend and was shocked when I realized except for the bungled Iran hostage rescue mission he never waged war as President. That is stunning and probably his most interesting legacy.

++Andrew Bacevich writes today about the five most common beliefs of the Washington Punditry that are absolutely false. You can read the piece at Tomsdisptach. com and it now has appeared on democraticunderground. Bacevich's point is that Egypt and Saudi Arabia are not our natural allies and have nothing in common with us. One is a brutal military dictatorship, the other the most repressive theocracy in the world. Point one above all the rest is that American forces in the Middle East do not bring stability but the contrary. The Persian Gulf just doesn't rate anymore in the national interest. With the new oil environment,there is not a lot of national interest in the Middle East. Also terrorism does not pose an existential threat to America. But we go on believing these things.

++The Jerusalem Post writes that Bibi is preparing to attack Iran now that the nuclear talks have been delayed until June 15,2015. 

++Meanwhile Hamas has announced it has received more missiles from Iran.

++The UK is now going to pass tougher "anti-terrorism" laws.

++President Obama has order a strategic review to not only fight ISIS but also Assad. Good luck with that one.

++I'm with Charlie Rangel on this stuff. Tell us in detail the national interests in continuing war in the Middle East, institute a draft with an option to serve domestically on social programs,and tax the wealthy to pay for the war.

More on Iraq

++Andrew Bacevich appeared on Bill Moyers to talked about the political elites love of war even though they know nothing about actual warfare. If you can see the clip, please look it up. He makes the case that we have been a huge presence in the Middle East since 1980 and asks the question whether we have brought greater stability and greater democracy.Citing Iraq--two wars there--Afghanistan,Libya and even Somalia, if the answer is yes to either of the issues  then we should keep doing what we have been doing. If the answer is no, then we should stop.

++Rand Paul was asked to comment on Dick Cheney's attack on President Obama said that we have to ask a whole lot of questions about those who advocated and planned the Iraq invasion. Since there were no WMDs, which was its rationale, he said, we have to ask whether it really was won in 2005 as the Bush Administration claimed. He went on to say that the Iraq invasion created the whole mess there now and that he would like to know from the advocates of the war why did we embolden Iran and allow Iran to have hegemony in the region.

++The Harvard Study on the cost of the Iraq War puts the cost at $4 trillion or $35,000 per household in America. Senator Bernie Sanders said on the Ed Show that if we spent $1 trillion like the Society of Engineers has said, we could have a modern infrastructure in America.