Ted Lieu And Ruben Gallego Want Some Answers From The Pentagon About Señor Trumpanzee's War Plans

Ruben Gallego and Ted Lieu are both deep thinkers, both progressive activists in Congress and both military veterans, Ruben in the Marine Corps and Ted in the Air Force. Ruben is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Ted is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Yesterday they both sent a letter to James Mattis, the Secretary of Defense.

They requested that Mattis reveal to Congress the Pentagon’s analysis of the mass destruction that would be inflicted if President Trump follows through on his reckless and belligerent rhetoric towards North Korea or accidentally stumbles into a war with Kim Jung Un. "We would like to know," they wrote, "expected casualty, how the United States would prevent devastating North Korean retaliation, and what plans the Department has for the humanitarian disaster that would follow any conflict... We have not heard detailed analysis of expected U.S. or allied force casualties, expected civilian casualties, what plans exist for the aftermath of a strike-- including continuity of the South Korean Government, or how such assessments have factored into the military options presented to the President." This was their first specific question:

And this was their last: What happens if China or Russia opposes the U.S. use of military force against North Korea? What are U.S. plans to contain escalation not just by North Korea, but also by China and/or Russia?"

They asked him to respond to their 6 questions within a month and reminded him that "before this Administration leads America down the dark, bloody, and uncertain path of war with North Korea, the American people and their representatives in Congress deserve answers to the critical questions."

We asked the progressive veterans who have been endorsed by Blue America for their insight into this. (You can find them all by clicking on the vets thermometer on the right.) They're all so busy trying to raise end-of-the-quarter cash that the only ones to respond were Randy Bryce in Wisconsin and Doug Applegate in California. Randy: "The United States and our allies have been able to collaboratively keep North Korea contained for over 50 years. It is one thing both Democrats and Republicans have been able to do. Until now. Now we have someone in the White House who has us stooping down to their level. What’s the next step-- nukes? We are at a pretty scary place in our history, and, with the Republicans in the majority of every branch of government, there is a definite lack of any kind of leadership maintaining the checks and balances that were built in to out Constitution. In the middle of the night Paul Ryan removed an amendment that would have removed Donald Trump’s blank check to create/maintain a war. If we aren’t able to take back the house in 2018, I truly question the ability of the federal government to maintain peace because it currently appears that the person in our White House is doing his best to provoke us into one."

This afternoon Doug Applegate told us that "The Pentagon reworks every single one of its operation plans around the world every 18 months. DoD can spit out the the cost in blood treasure and duration for practically every kinetic military operation imaginable. The American public deserves to know the cost for each sophomoric threat made by Trump, that would include the lives of our children and grandchildren who will ultimately pay the price." Let's pay attention.