The Libertarian Heathen

Surgical strikes to protect US diplomats is not interventionism.

My news feed today is full of ridiculous libertarians bemoaning the airstrike that killed Qassim Suleimani in Baghdad. Shrill cries abound, about war crimes and claims Trump bombed a civilian airport.

I founded the national Libertarian Veterans Caucus to deploy those who served against interventionist foreign policy. I oppose a war with Iran. The founding fathers would agree with my position that the Libertarian Republic they created was not meant to be an empire, and that policing the world is unconstitutional.

I often use the example of how Thomas Jefferson responded to the Barbary Pirates during his tenure in the presidency as how we should operate. President Jefferson sent the US Marine Corps to Tripoli. We attacked their base of operations, killed their leader, burned pirate ships, and sent a message that American ships and people would be left alone or there would be hell to pay, and then came home. An embassy is considered native soil.

Diplomacy is a major component of avoiding war, and diplomats are treated by any civilized nation as untouchable, as it should be. In fact, that is why attacking one is considered an act of war.

President Trump’s response to the assault on our embassy was Jeffersonian and appropriate. He did not deploy 100,000 troops and begin an Iraq war sequel. He sent the US Marine Corps, about 100, to secure the embassy. Next, he struck the vehicle carrying the mastermind of the assault and his deputy with a precision bomb, killing them.

Look at the picture of the wreckage, he did not bomb a civilian airport

If Trump sends troops to invade Iran I will oppose it as vigorously as I oppose any other unconstitutional war. This was a “clean shoot” though. These men were outside of their own nation, carrying out attacks on diplomats, they needed to be killed.

This is how we should protect our citizens abroad. This was Jeffersonian, and I approve. Libertarians whining about it hurt the anti-war cause, and the party’s credibility.

From the Libertarian Party Platform:

3.1 National Defense

We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression. The United States should both avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world. We oppose any form of compulsory national service.