18 Comments so far

1. DanceYiga February 9th, 2007 4:49 pm

   If I recall, Congress did not declare war on Iraq. Why is there confusion and lack of clarity? Why is there fear to do the right thing? The war is not popular in view of all the facts and treasonous activities conducted by the White House.

   Senator Feingold certainly has clarity and is holding the torch so that the rest of the Congressional members can see the light. He said,

   “The Constitution gives Congress the explicit power ‘[to] declare War,’ ‘[t]o raise and support Armies,’ ‘[t]o provide and maintain a Navy’ and ‘[t]o make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces.’ In addition, under Article I, ‘No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.’ These are direct quotes from the Constitution of the United States. Yet to hear some in the Administration talk, it is as if these powers were written in invisible ink. They were not. These powers are a clear and direct statement from the founders of our republic that Congress has authority to declare, to define and, ultimately, to end a war.”

   If Congress (i.e.,Republicans AND Democrats) acts on the will of the American people by ending the Iraq war, Congress will be performing its proper role — by defining the nature of our military commitments and acting as a check on a president and vice-president who have acted flagrantly against the Constitution.

2. namvet67 February 9th, 2007 4:57 pm

   Congress may have the power to pass a law but Bush has the power to press a button. And once the button is pushed it won’t matter what the law said.
   Hoa Binh

3. rsnyder February 9th, 2007 8:55 pm

   It is truly disturbing that we have such a crazy, totalitarian administration that we have to sit around and ponder whether or not we have the Constitutional power to prevent them from starting pre-emptive war across the whole of the middle east…

4. mwildfire February 9th, 2007 9:47 pm

   I read an interesting comment this morning from someone who said that clearly Bush intends to invade Iran, and obviously this is a terrible time for him to do such a massively unpopular and reckless thing. Therefore, he needs a new false-flag operation to justify it to the American people — and not a little one, given the current state of his gang’s ratings, and the fact that 9/11 set a horrific standard.  I’m afraid this logic seems all too strong — thus, we not only need Congress to take appropriate action to head off war with Iran, we also need to be prepared to shake off the media’s screams that Iran is behind a new terrorist attack in the US — and press HARD for an investigation immediately.

5. yapchongsan February 9th, 2007 11:19 pm

   It makes me very happy that the USA is in so much deep sh.t ! These are moments that I savour with especial delight; in the past the USA enjoyed throwing sh.t at our beloved People’s Republic of China, all on trumped up and fabricated fantasy pointing dirty finger at China. The last of these damned bull durst is the embargo on arms export. China has no difficulty with these embargo and as a matter China has turned what the USA believe was censure on China (more than 20 years of crappy American naivete’) into a positive by throwing back at the USA this nonsense of embargo. The EU is now beginning to see how stupid their support of the USA has been, and they are pegging back this nonsense.

   The USA has a lot of useless weaponry and gizzoe but for as long as I have lived (71 years old) I have only seen the USA get the beating of her life in all the wars that she fermented. The USA can destroy but the USA simply cannot and have not proven to be winners at all times. America is a loser nation and they ought to stop trying to run the lives of others.

   Iran has, in the face of the USA carrier fleet of several carrier groups, stuck their middle finger at the Americans, they as a matter of fact invites the USA to attack Iran, because as they have said many times, they will teach the Americans what it means to be beaten to within an inch of one’s life.

   The USA is not aggressing against Iran because the USA having any good intentions, but the truth is that the USA wants Iran to abandon Irans dumping of the US$ in their oil bourse (Irans will only accept euros for sale of Iranian oil). This will gradually erode confidence in the US$. The USA cannot have that dropped on them like a sack of potatoes; because the USA owes the world US$9 trillion, and loss of confidence in the greenbacks will ruin the USA (make the USA go broke). Bush has no choice but to shoot himself and the USA in the head, because Iran will not back down.

   The USA must not invade Iran because Iran will sink all the USA carriers in the first wave attack if the USA ever get stupid enough to invade Iran. USA cannot win ! Don’t even think of it.

6. JOHN February 10th, 2007 1:09 am

   U.S. will not start a war with Iran, but Israel will. Here is the why- Back in 2002 the Hezbollah had taken two Israeli soldiers as prisoners and negotiated with Sharon for the release of 450 prisoners, without a single shot being fired. In July 2006 the Hazbollah had again taken two Israeli soldiers, but this time Israel wouldn’t negotiate, instead they bombed Lebanon.(Bush had pressured the Syrian Peace Keeping Force in Lebanon to leave with the help of the United Nations,in May of 2005). Israel used Lebanon as a training exercise to test their new weapons strategically taking out bridges,power plants(electrical plants),water supply plants,airports,and communications. Israel bombed Lebanon for over a month,the U.S. could have intervened to stop Israel but did not. BUSH WILL GIVE THE OKAY FOR ISRAEL TO BOMB IRAN, AND BECAUSE ISRAEL IS AN ALLY CONGRESS WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO GO TO WAR WITH IRAN–OH WHAT A NEOCON MOURNING(not morning) EVERYTHING WILL BE GOING THEIR WAY–

7. dwyerj1 February 10th, 2007 4:50 am

   So now Mr. Bush and his boys want to attack Iran not because of nukes, but because of roadside bombs!

   Who’s in charge around here? I want the bull-goose loony in this nuthouse–says Mack in _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_.

   How many dollars, weapons, men has the United States supplied to the terrorists who fight on our side (you know, the ones who shoot fleeing taxi drivers with a 50mm U-235 coated explosive Abrams tank projectile and the ones who rape young women and try to burn their bodies to cover the evidence)? Is it $365,017,766,988? More than the full dollar amount supplied by the Iranians to the Iraqi “insurgents”? You betcha.

   How many F-14s and Apache attack helicopters have been smuggled into Iraq to kill and maim those folks supposedly guilty of downing the World Trade Center?

   How does a roadside bomb compare with a Daisy Cutter? And what serial numbers are on the sides of our satellite-guided Cruise Missiles? Wonder when the Iranians will attack Lima, OH or St. Charles, MO? Our War President is a morally bankrupt sham. Don’t believe him or any of his minions.

   Don’t attack Iran. Power to the people.

8. LetsSaveDemocracy February 10th, 2007 6:33 am

   Just as John Dean showed he was fifty years too late to understand the triumph of authoritarianism, he is way behind in this quaint piece, carrying on like there is a Constitution or that Cheney and his thugs would care anyway. There has been a coup John. You should know that. They don’t play by those rules anymore. They rarely did. Their audacity of shooting a president in the head is one thing, or his brother from right behind the skull. But now they blow up the World Trade Center, and appear to attack their own Pentagon, and blame it on people who couldn’t possibly do it, to invade other countries, the oldest trick in the books. In a few more years this will be obvious to more people but it will be too late. It will take an international coalition, like the last time when Hitler headed the Fascist Dream. But now they have the world’s strongest and most diabolical military. “We have this anthrax” They warned us in their gift to Daschle and Leahy. And that’s just the beginning. What makes anyone think they care about the Constitution except their refusal to see how bad it has become?

9. PullThePlugN08 February 10th, 2007 7:53 am

   In a court of law, when a witness lies, and it is proven he has lied, a jury can be instructed to ignore the testimony of the witness.

   Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rove, Gates, …how many of these liars will the Democrats continue to deal with as if they were legitimate players.

   The Democratic leadership was given a mandate last November: Hold President Bush accountable, stop the genocide of civilians, over 750,000 at this stage, and bring our troops home.

   If the Democrats fail to act now and prosecute this corrupt administration, and stop any attack on Iran, then THEY may join the list of WAR CRIMINALS that the voters will IMPEACH in November ‘08.

   We’ve had enough of the triangulating DLC.

   Pull the plug on these liars, and do it now!!

10. Rick February 10th, 2007 8:31 am

    It is time for Congress to reclaim this power and responsibility..
    I don’t think they want the responsibility!
    They are to busy calculating the political fallout of such an action while young men and women die.
    I think it disgusting how they couldn’t even move to pass a non-binding resolution.
    Now I am not impressed with the democrats but the Republicans that moved to block debate on it.. They sicken me!
    I think it is coming close to a time when we need to march straight up Pennsylvania Avenue and right across the White House Lawn!
    They need to know that we mean business!
    They need to know that not all of us are busy watching reality television and celebrating super bowl victories.
    Some us are watching their actions very closely.

11. Gail February 10th, 2007 10:28 am

    This article sends one very clear message to the citizens of this country: Congressional leaders have been passing legislation for decades and creating all kinds of statutes that suit themselves and Corporate America without a comprehensive understanding or knowledge of their powers under the constitution.

    How in hell can a democratic governing body pass legitimate legislation when it doesn’t know its own constitutional authority?

    It makes you wonder how many “unconstitutional” statutes are sitting on the books right now, and the roles they have played in sinking this country into a black hole of economic insecurity and debt.

12. TLarson February 10th, 2007 12:50 pm

    Although Section 8, Article 11 of the Constitution gives congress the power to declare War in the modern world we can be attacked and need to respond without a declaration of war. In that case the President needs to take action without prior authorization from Congress. Actually Congress has formally declared war in only five out of a hundred conflicts. In 1973 Congress enacted the War Powers Act that says the president must file a formal report with Congress within forty-eight hours of initiating hostilities and limits military action to sixty days with a possible thirty-day extension unless Congress agrees to the military involvement.
    The real problem in all of this is that we are so submerged in a sea of semantics, euphemisms, and lack of integrity that it’s difficult, at best, to know the truth of the matter. Highly intelligent men and women of great power get caught up in an abstract world that doesn’t engage in any thorough, indepth analysis except that which supports their ideology and poof, we get caught up in a stupid war.

13. observer February 10th, 2007 2:03 pm

    When Senator Huey Long of Louisiana was asked in 1933 if fascism was possible in this country, he replied, “Yes, but it will be with smile”. History proved him wrong, for fascism came to our shores with idiotic smirk, but it finally came nonetheless. So, the only hope for the better future that is left for us is the omnipotence of greed.

    For absolute greed leads to absolute corruption and as lesson of Iraq teaches us, even the simplest kind of military equipment works not. In Iraq, our military could not provide simple armor; on 9/11, our air defense could not intercept mere three humongous airliners, lest a massive attack by cruse missiles launched from primitive diesel-powered U-boat. If the whole purpose of American way of life is to generate ever-bigger fortunes for few and ever less dignified life for many, then be prepared to last judgment.

    Lets-Save-Democracy cry is all too late: our democratic republican horse fled out of barn back in 1947, on March 27, when 1947 National Security Act was adapted by our brave Congress. Or did we ever were riding that fabled horse?

14. Vincent Cohen February 10th, 2007 5:36 pm

    Forget the Constitution! Anybory heard of the Tonkin Gulf? With the Tonkin -correction, Persian Gulf loaded with two U.S. carrier groups and the Iran sinking or firing on one of the U.S. ships here comes retailitory attacks on Iranian installations - Lebenon style - possibly with Israelian help. How does the U.S populace know there was an attack on a U.S.shp? Easy, our Defense department told them so!But tha is good - now we can lose our guilt feelings as our mercenary army fights in Iraq because here comes the Iranian defensive and retailitory acts. All Iranian crude oil exports cease as Venezuela suddenly finds it necessary to shut down most of its refineries - Enron style. As the International oil markets go bonkers and gasoline shoots up to $5 or $10 per gallon while Saudi Arabia is involved in the lengthy process of icreasing greatly its production of crude and gasoline.Joe Working stiff now pays $10 a gallon for his gasoline while economy goes into a severe recession - maybe even the “d” word. Iran lobs missilles into the U.S. headquarters across the Persian Gulf in the Arab and Saudi areas.All Hell breaks loose in Iraq as the Shiites go ape.How come our wonderful press never, ever discuss what defensive and retailitory moves Iran can take? Never a word about the Green Zone in Iraq describing its billion dollar U.S. embassy, its walls and moats surrounding it. For the future of Iraq read the recent column by Edward N. Luttwakin the New York Times -Feb. 6 - about the U.S. forces in Iraq withdrawing into fortified redoubts in Iraq for the future and let the Shia and Sunni kill each other - that fewer “insurgents” fighting U.S. forces. This neo-con has got it right - we a’int giving up that oil in Iraq and soo Iran!

15. willow February 11th, 2007 11:16 am

    Thank you John Dean,
    My comment is that we know that there is NO question that G.W Bush and Mr. Cheney will violate any law and misuse finances that truly belong to U.S. citizens to continue their bidding. Our focus needs to be on the variety of ways and means they shall use to invent reasons for aggression towards anyone in the small world we are merely a part of. We Know they have no respect for any one or any group ,so there is where I predict we shall find the truth and reason foe impeachment.
    It is the grandiosity and arrogance that will provide the chink in the armour so to speak. We must be ever diligent in watching the news leaks, the outright propaganda and political manipulations throughout the world. Iran must recognize that they are being played, however their response to such disrespect and exclusion cannot be completely accurately predicted. The peace promoters everywhere have a great opportunity to be proactive in this situation. A divided U.S. does not neccessarily mean an impotent U.S. Another strong and differing approach may flush out more of the ill-intended and show them for what they truly are, a special interest group motivated by gross greed and self-serving bullying behaviors.
    We must get back to basics and stop letting the spin keep us dizzy and defocused. We disrespect ourselves when we allow others to do our thinking for us!!!!!

    Thank you to anyone who is involved and participating in change and sharing their awareness.

    Willow

16. bncexoxusyvi December 11th, 2007 9:10 pm

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17. bnzakyhenoxy December 12th, 2007 9:26 am

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18. bncyvosahuhu January 1st, 2008 6:24 am

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