Evizda

With President Obama expected to deliver a national address on his plans for expanding the U.S. war against militant forces in Iraq (and possibly Syria) on Wednesday, the U.S. public is once again facing the sad fact that after thirteen years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, permanent war has become the nation’s steady state.

“Here’s how you know you live in an empire devoted to endless militarism: when a new 3-year war is announced and very few people seem to think the president needs anyone’s permission to start it (including Congress) and, more so, when the announcement – of a new multiple-year war – seems quite run-of-the-mill and normal.” —Glenn GreenwaldOn Tuesday, Obama met with Congressional leaders where he indicated his position that he already had all the authority he needs to execute the strategy he has in mind.

In a piece posted in Bloomberg, political correspondent Jonathan Allen said the “trick” Obama has to achieve in his Wednesday night address will be “getting the American public, Congress and allies abroad to sign on” to his new strategy to take on the group know as the Islamic State (formerly called ISIS), which operates in war zones in both Iraq and Syria.

Leaked details of Obama’s planned strategy suggest that the White House does not think it needs any additional authority from either the U.S. Congress or the United Nations to carry out airstrikes in Iraq or Syria, though it appears the president wants to make that case plainly to the electorate in order to garner as many nods of support as possible.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Iraq and met with the nation’s newly sworn-in Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Kerry told journalists that it will soon become clear “what the United States is prepared to do, together with many other countries in a broad coalition, in order to take on this terrorist structure, which is unacceptable by any standard anywhere in the world.”

But Kerry’s remarks from Baghdad are haunting for those who remember promises made prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In a piece published Wednesday exploring the “no end in sight” nature of modern U.S. wars, the Associated Press reports: