The United States is NOT at War!
Tue Mar 14, 2006 at 09:25:23 AM PDT
So many things this mis-administration has done or is doing have been based on fear and the false assumption that this country is at war since the attacks of September 11th, 2001. No such declaration of war has ever been issued.
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General, told NPR correspondent Juan Williams that because we are "for all intents and purposes at war", we can suspend habeus corpus for those held at Guantanamo Bay. Note: The link is to NPR audio; Gonzales is quoted at about 0:49 into the program. Of course, such a claim is disgustingly against all that the USA is founded on. Even if we were at war, basic human rights have been the foundation of our society. The right to a fair trial should never be impinged.
More below the fold.
James Woolsey, a former Director of Central Intelligence, told the LA World Affairs Council, "I think we are essentially at war with three somewhat distinct but related groups..." Well, you can't be at war with a group. And, of course, his groups are citizens of Iraq, so perhaps we are at war with the nation of Iraq? No, it seems they have a sovereign government that we helped put in place.
There was even debate last year about what this military action would be called. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, and General Richard Myers, then Chief of Staff of the Air Force, preferred to avoid framing the conflict as a "war", but Bush would have none of it. "The Global War on Terror" was born.
Ron Paul (R-TX) saw the constitutional problem very early on in the debate over invading Iraq. He gives 35 Questions that won't be asked about Iraq. Number 35:
Why don't those who want war bring a formal declaration of war resolution to the floor of Congress?
And in this October 8th speech, he puts the problem succinctly:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution, which regardless of what many have tried to claim will lead us into war with Iraq. This resolution is not a declaration of war, however, and that is an important point: this resolution transfers the Constitutionally-mandated Congressional authority to declare wars to the executive branch. This resolution tells the president that he alone has the authority to determine when, where, why, and how war will be declared.
The direction this country is taking is more and more divergent from the Constitution this country is supposed to be based on. Corporations have more power than people, the Congress no longer declares war but abrogates its authority to the President, a government agency is allowed to spy on Americans in violation of the 4th Amendment, and federal tax-payer dollars are being re-routed to fund a christo-fascist takeover of the republic. These things cannot stand and we, the people, must seize control of our government by making those that we elect accountable for their every action. Most especially, we must force our elected officials to recognize their oath is to the Constitution and therefore to the People.
For starters, a resolution should be passed to reassert Congressional authority to define military actions. This resolution should "fix" the constitutional problems with the War Powers Act, namely that oversight by Congress must be more than simply receiving a report from the President. Second, any program or military operation based on these myopic authorizations should immediately cease or seek additional authorization.
Third, support S.Res.350, which sits in the Judiciary Committee right now. Introduced by Senators Leahy and Kennedy, this resolution would pry warrantless wiretapping away from the AUMF. Lastly, support Senator Feingold's censure resolution, S.Res.398.
References:
Crossposted from SmokeyMonkey.org.
