Iran is expected to announce as soon as Thursday that its uranium stockpiles have exceeded the limits set by the nuclear deal it reached in 2015 with the United States, the European Union and other countries. The announcement would come amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, following Iran’s downing of a U.S. military drone and President Trump’s last-minute decision not to follow through on a previously ordered retaliatory military response.
Since the 9/11 attacks, the United States has entered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and numerous armed conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and beyond, and the executive branch has absorbed increasing levels of power from the legislature to launch military interventions abroad. We'll talk about precedent and American militarization under successive presidents, as well as the only memorial to fallen US soldiers in the post-2001 wars in the Middle East with Andrew Bacevich, professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University.