Arrr, Washington be pickin' its battles! Ukraine and Israel be in, despite naysayers from all sides. Aye!
2024-04-27
Arrr, mateys! Time will tell if the United States' meddling in battles in the Ukraine and Middle East be deemed worthy, just as it did with the U.S. stickin' its nose in Central America or the rumble in Iraq. Let history be the judge, aye!
In the language of a 17th-century pirate, Washington, D.C., be pickin' its battles, matey. Arrr, the leaders in Washington have weighed in and decided the U.S. be havin' a stake in the skirmish in Ukraine. After a fair bit o' talkin', the scallywags in Congress finally coughed up $62 billion for Ukraine to swashbuckle against Russia in recent weeks. Most o' the Democrats backed the American aid fer Ukraine.But it took a lot o' persuadin' from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to shake loose that treasure. President Biden, McConnell, and others finally convinced House Speaker Mike Johnson to throw his support behind the aid, despite most o' the House Republicans opposin' it. The Senate followed suit a few days later, with a foreign aid package passin' 79-18, with only 31 o' the Senate's 49 GOP members givin' their approval.Tucked away in that package be gold for Israel, another quarrel that the U.S. be entangled in, courtesy o' the votes from lawmakers from both sides o' the aisle. The U.S. has a history o' jumpin' into conflicts abroad, like the Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980s, when Reagan's crew found a crafty — if not entirely legal — way to fund the Contras in Nicaragua by sellin' weapons to Iran.Fast-forward to modern times, when the U.S. made the choice to wage war in Iraq in 2003. Congress gave its approval, but few now stand by the entirety of that battle. Sen. J.D. Vance be one o' the fiercest critics in Congress against sendin' aid to Ukraine, likenin' the arguments to those for the Iraq War. History will be the judge o' whether the decisions to intervene in Ukraine and Israel were sound. The U.S. may have chosen its wars, but only time will tell if they be the right ones.