• apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The US has been invading countries without a congressional act of war for some time now. Unfortunately the precedent for a lunatic to do this has been paved by four decades of it.

    • favoredponcho@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Yeah. Iraq and Afghanistan did receive congressional approval, though not a declaration of war, as fucked up as those wars were. But, you could argue they did it.

      The military swore an oath to the constitution, so this should be grounds for them to disobey.

      • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Grenada, Nicaragua, Iraq, Iraq again, Afghanistan, Benghazi, Syria. There are many many more, these are just off the top of my head.

      • trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        It should be, but I don’t recall any military in history that actually has disobeyed a fascist dictator in the process of seizing power.

        • favoredponcho@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          In 1974 Portugal, the military removed a fascist dictator and restored democracy. I agree it’s rare though.

          • trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works
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            1 day ago

            That was a military coup in a country that had run its economy into the ground by being a fascist dictatorship for decades, which pissed off the people, including the military, somewhat. When the fascists originally took power, the military had gone along with it.

            • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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              1 day ago

              It was a military coup inside a military coup inside a military coup.

              The original coup that instated the regime was a revolt led by high officials in the wake of a scandalous counterfeit money scheme. The post WWI military felt their wages shrink in purchasing power and pointed fingers at the very unstable and young republican goverment.

              Hence the coup and following fifty years of fascism that by all measures was instated against the military plans. They wanted a military-run country. They apointed a general for president. He appointed a strongman for running the daily affairs. The civilians still got back the true governing and the military were pushed aside.

              Come 1974, it was a rebellion of low ranking officers that threw the regime, with a good dose of communist (read popular) insatisfaction into the mix.

              To quote the head officer:

              "Meus senhores, como todos sabem, há diversas modalidades de Estado. Os estados socialistas, os estados capitalistas e o estado a que chegámos. Ora, nesta noite solene, vamos acabar com o estado a que chegámos!”

              Running a state is a job for civilians. Making sure those civilians toe the line is the military to enforce, after the population set it. In 2013 we had the military remembering the then government remembering it was their sworn duty to uphold and defend the Constitution, which was constantly being ignored by several attempts of law.