Katrina vanden Heuvel: Time to Abandon Our ‘War-Footing’ Mentality

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Time to Abandon Our ‘War-Footing’ Mentality

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Time to Abandon Our ‘War-Footing’ Mentality

Politicians are finally catching up with the American people by questioning our continued involvement in Afghanistan.

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We are spending two billion dollars per week on the war in Afghanistan alone, and the politicians are finally catching up with the American people in questioning our involvement in the country. Are Republicans starting to take a more "isolationist" stance overall, or is war-weariness instead starting to influence both parties’ policies? War hawks have fallen noticeably silent; now is the time for Obama to announce a viable exit strategy. 

Katrina vanden Heuvel joined Morning Joe today to argue that our country needs to abandon the "war-footing" mentality we’ve been in since George W. Bush’s presidency and disengage from the endless unlawful, unwinnable wars that have characterized our nation’s recent history.

Anna Lekas Miller

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

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Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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