OF IMPERIAL PRESIDENTS AND CONGRESSIONAL COWARDS

[jbfam4]

OF IMPERIAL PRESIDENTS AND CONGRESSIONAL COWARDS

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=pbu

by Pat Buchanan


Does President Bush have, or not have, the authority to take us to war with Iran? Because Bush and the War Party are surely behaving as though this were an executive decision alone.



"To Bomb or Not to Bomb, That Is the Iran Question," is the title of an extended piece in the Standard, whose editorial calls for "urgent operational planning for bombing strikes." As that would likely ignite Shia and Revolutionary Guard terror attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, the Standard wants Bush to send more troops.




Moreover, where does Bush get the authority to launch a war on a nation that has not attacked us? As few believe Iran is close to a nuclear weapon, while four neighbors -- Russia, India, Pakistan and Israel, not to mention the United States -- already have the bomb, what is America's justification for war?



There is a reason the Founding Fathers separated the power to conduct war from the power to declare it. The reason is just such a ruler as George W. Bush, a man possessed of an ideology and sense of mission that are not necessarily coterminous with what is best for his country. Under our Constitution, it is Congress, not the president, who decides on war.


It is time for Congress to tell President Bush directly that he has no authority to go to war on Iran and to launch such a war would be an impeachable offense. Or, if they so conclude, Congress should share full responsibility by granting him that authority after it has held hearings and told the people why we have no other choice than another Mideast war, with a nation four times as large as Iraq.

[Uncle Joe]

1. It's scares the hell out of me,

when Pat Buchanan starts making sense!


My only quibble is he does seem to hold his own party to account with this statement.

"Many Democrats now concede they failed the nation when they took Bush at his word that Iraq was an intolerable threat that could be dealt with only by an invasion."

[katty]

2. yeah, and after that-Arrest him & the WH gang!

[yurbud]

3. kick & rec