The First ‘No War’ of President Trump

To declare war is a far-reaching thing, but it is worse to get into one through the back door.

To declare war is something very serious. So much so that, since the beginning of time, the trick is to do it without declaring it. Borrowing the lyrics from Loquillo y los Trogloditas, the important thing here is not to talk but do. A separate issue is that the expression “declare war” is used for anything. We declare war in much the same way on climate change as we do on discrimination. And then comes advertising which encourages us to declare war on kitchen grease, stains on clothes or lice.

In democracies, parliaments are the ones to approve declarations of war, something that not only political scientists know, but also the millions who play the game “Civilization,” by Sid Meier. They are more than political scientists although they publish less. One manages a country and develops it. One goes to war all the time, but when it reaches the state of democracy that guarantees the maximum technological and economic development, you discover that you cannot declare war at will. Not even a justifiably preventive one. The parliament systematically prohibits it. The fun is over.

But the reality always outpaces the fantasy. It is not necessary to solemnly address the nation in a speech, nor to open the doors of the temple of Janus as the Romans did — who left the building without closing them until peace came — to send to the soldiers of a country to war.

The United States is a good example. From the time of its independence, it has waged five wars in which an official declaration has been necessary. Some of them, like World War II, harbored six other subordinated declarations. But besides these, Washington has been involved in 19 wars authorized by Congress that haven’t been declared as such. Among them, Korea, Vietnam, and the two ones in the Gulf. To this must be added the extensive presidential powers that prevent [presidents] from declaring war on their own initiative but allow them to do very similar things, even certain nonsense that can lead to a world war. For example, a president could detonate an atomic bomb every day into the waters of North Korea. Between such warheads that are active and in storage, the U.S. has about 5,000 nuclear warheads.

The important thing is to avoid the cursed word and, above all, its legal implications. Donald Trump has said throughout his campaign that he was opposed to the war — pardon, not war — in Iraq. Now when he speaks of fighting against the Islamic State, he uses the phrase “kick ass.” To combat it — as in Mosul — he increases the number of infantry soldiers and artillery on the front line. They don’t fight. They advise the Iraqis under a 2001 authorization, approved after the attacks of 9/11 to combat al-Qaida. Barack Obama — a master of “nothing here, nothing there” — also used the same ploy. In the end, these military actions do not pass through Congress; he only asks permission when it is necessary to spend more money. Declaring war is frightening, but that it happens without the Congress of a democracy saying a word is worse.