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RC: The Price of Voting Against the Iraq War

Retiring Tennessee Republican looks back on another time he thought his career was over

The five decade-long tradition of Duncan family dominance in Tennessee’s 2nd District will end with the 115th Congress. With an ethics probe clouding his legacy and retirement closing in, Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. looked back to another time he thought his career might be ending.

In 2002, as fear and speculation swirled, Duncan sided with just a handful of other House Republicans, including Amo Houghton of New York, in voting against the Iraq War. He knew it could be political suicide.

“I just became convinced that these wars were more about money and power than they were about any real threat to the U.S.,” he said.

Duncan’s skepticism of intervention had begun 10 years earlier with the Persian Gulf War.

While he’d heard all the top officials at that time talk of the urgent threat posed by Saddam Hussein, what Duncan witnessed didn’t align with that narrative. He saw droves of Hussein’s elite troops surrendering to CNN camera crews in empty tanks. He realized then that officials had greatly exaggerated the danger.

The White House summoned Duncan in efforts to sway his opinion. Duncan told national security chief Condoleezza Rice that Lawrence Lindsey, head economic adviser, estimated that war with Iraq would cost $200 billion. Rice responded that it would not be nearly that much, maybe $50 or $60 billion. They could also get some of that back from their allies, she said.

He was not convinced.

“Since you’re going against every traditional conservative value with huge deficit spending, massive foreign aid and the U.S. being policemen of the world, and you’re going there to enforce U.N. resolutions and conservatives have been the biggest critics of the U.N., do you have any evidence of any imminent threat?” he asked.

Evidence was scant, a fact George Tenet confirmed in a speech at Georgetown after resigning from the CIA, Duncan said.

The night before the vote, 9 percent of Duncan’s constituents opposed the war. The first three to four years after that were difficult. A Baptist church disinvited Duncan from a speaking engagement; a candidate ran against him solely on the war. But then things started to turn around.

“Slowly what had been by far my most unpopular vote started to become my most popular vote,” Duncan said.

Since then, he has spoken out against continued American occupation in the Middle East.

“I think it’s just very sad that we’ve spent trillions now in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Duncan said. “I was speaking out long before Trump was saying we need to start putting our own country and our own people first.”

Duncan says he is especially proud to be consistently ranked one of the most fiscally conservative members of Congress.

But that fiscal conservatism might not translate to campaign finance for Duncan. The House Ethics Committee has probed whether he misused tens of thousands of dollars on personal expenses, including for membership to a private club in Knoxville and for private events such as showers, engagement parties and dinners, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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NYT: WFP Says Port City Fighting Threatens Millions of Yemenis

SANAA, Yemen — A recent bout of fighting between Yemeni government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels around the Red Sea port city of Hodeida could jeopardize shipments of 46,000 tons of wheat expected to arrive within the next ten days, the World Food Program said on Friday.

The latest offensive began last week following the failure of what was hoped to be renewed peace talks to resume in Geneva. It was concentrated in the eastern and southern entrances to the city, which is considered the lifeline of Yemen.

WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said humanitarian workers, infrastructure and food supplies have been targeted in recent days as clashes are still ongoing near the Red Sea Mill Silos, a critical facility for WFP operations.

The fighting could impact WFP’s ability to supply up to 3.5 million people in dire need in northern and central Yemen for one month, he said.

AP: Syria criticizes event on UN body investigating crimes

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Syria is sharply criticizing an upcoming event on the U.N. investigative body that is assisting in documenting serious crimes committed during the seven-year Syrian conflict, including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Syria’s U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja’afari, said in a letter to General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak circulated Friday that the Sept. 27 event is another “destructive” action by its sponsors, Qatar and Liechtenstein.

The event will take place on the sidelines of the 193-member assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders.

The U.N. missions of Qatar and Liechtenstein did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ja’afari reiterated Syria’s claim that the investigative body established by the General Assembly in December 2016 is illegal and violates the U.N. Charter. He said any evidence it collects “will be ineligible for future criminal proceedings.”

The resolution adopted by the assembly said the body, known as the “International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism,” would help collect and analyze evidence of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law “to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings.”

It called for the body “to closely coordinate” with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which was established by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council. The commission has alleged that Syrian government and rebel forces committed war crimes and it accused the government of using chemical weapons.

Qatar’s U.N. Mission called the resolution, which was co-sponsored by 58 countries and approved by a large majority, “a decisive step to ensure accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.” It said Syrian civilians “continue to be subjected to heinous violations.”

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NYT: Afghan Military Helicopter Crashes, Kills All Five Aboard