(Lawfare) – A prominent feature of The Atlantic’s recent retrospective on President Obama’s foreign policy decisions was whether the president’s refusal to follow through on threats of military action against Syria’s Assad regime after it used chemical weapons against civilians damaged US credibility. Many in Washington’s foreign policy circles criticize the president’s decision. But far fewer seem troubled by the consequences to US credibility when our security partners violate, with impunity, the human rights standards on which military aid is supposedly conditioned. The US government’s unwillingness to enforce those conditions weakens its position when dealing with foreign partners and poses a serious threat to national security. Two laws impose conditions on US aid to foreign security forces: the Leahy Law and the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA). But neither is adequately enforced.
