Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:38 pm
In an effort to stave off the threat that the incoming Trump administration poses to the rest of the world, the Obama administration on Monday released a memo that essentially lays out how and when to use military force.
The document serves as a “guidebook” for national security-related topics so that the incoming administration – led by the most unqualified person to hold the office – doesn’t completely destroy the world.
According to the Washington Post:
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On the eve of a new administration that has promised more aggressive counterterrorism operations, the Obama White House has released a lengthy compendium of its own policies governing the use of force.
The 61-page document outlines eight years of the administration’s legal opinions, executive orders and military directives. In a strong defense of the administration’s actions, it lists rules for lethal drones and terrorist detention, and describes the international and domestic law that undergirds them.
Such rules are important to reduce “the risk of an ill-considered decision,” President Obama wrote in an introduction to the document. When making policy on war and peace, he wrote, it was critical to disclose “as much information as possible to the public . . . so that an informed public can scrutinize our actions and hold us to account.”
Even though President Obama will not be in the White House after Jan. 20, 2017, it’s clear he wants to hold the country – and world – together after he’s gone, particularly given just how little the incoming president knows, and cares to know, about foreign policy and national security.
In fact, as the Washington Post noted, citing an official, this is “the first time” anything like this has been put together to help prepare an incoming administration for foreign policy matters.
That’s for good reason.
During the campaign, Trump has made a number of alarming comments on this subject, including promises to reinstate torture, kill innocent family members of terrorists, and support more countries having access to nuclear weapons. In a national security briefing earlier this year, Trump even asked several times why the United States couldn’t use the nuclear weapons in our possession.
In an election season where Trump has proven himself – if he follows through on his foreign policy proposals – to be a clear and present danger to the country and the world, it’s smart of the Obama administration to take every possible precaution to prevent an all-out catastrophe under Trump.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
