War and War Powers of Congress
The war in Iraq is wrong. I've been saying so since it began. I was saying so when it wasn't fashionable to do so, which is why I bravely stood up and ran for US Congress in 2004 and 2006. I also have a way to get our troops out. One way is to bring Iraqi troops here to be trained. Currently, if you are an Iraqi troop, you get to go home at night to your family. Bring them here and let's get them trained in 8 weeks like we do our troops. The second part of the equation is covert, a secret, and I'll keep that to myself. In case we ever get to use my idea, I want to make sure that our troops remain safe.
The following is a statement of Supreme Court Justice Jackson in 1948 speaking on the War Power of Congress. Read how closely it resembles what is happening today with the Iraq War.
No one will question that this power is the most dangerous one to free government in the whole catalogue of powers. It is usually invoked in haste and excitement when calm legislative consideration of constitutional limitation is difficult. It is executed in a time of patriotic fervor that makes moderation unpopular. And, worst of all, it is interpreted by judges under the influence of the same passions and pressures. Always, [the] Government urges hasty decisions to forestall some emergency or serve some purposes and pleads that paralysis will result if its claims to power are denied or their confirmation delayed.
Particularly when the war power is invoked to do things to the liberties of people, or to their property or economy that, only indirectly, affect conduct of the war and, do not relate to the management of the war itself, the constitutional basis should be scrutinized with care.
Look how the statement relates to the Patriot Act and other violations of the US Constitution under the "fear" of war--war with an enemy with no face--terror! Incidentally, let's take a quick look here at how quickly the Patriot Act came out after 9/11. It's a pretty thick document and I'm sure it took a little bit of time to write, much less get off to the printer and bound for release. How did they write that document so quickly? Hum? Could it have been PREWRITTEN?
And that, friends, is what we have here. Our government has gotten us into an endless war with an enemy with no face and taken away our basic rights and freedoms afforded us under the US Constutition. First, the face of terror and fear was Osama bin Laden; then it was the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. Actually, the reason we dragged Iraq into the whole thing is because you can't declare war on a person, so you have to have a sovereign country to invade. Well, Sadam Hussein is dead, but we still have all of this terrorism out there, and frankly it doesn't seem like anyone in Washington is too concerned with Mr. bin Laden these days. So, darn it, just how can we protect ourselves from all of this terror?
Let me fill you in on a little secret, terrorism has always existed. It has just never hit with such force on American soil as happened on 9/11. Just ask any child who grew up in Northern Ireland, or a child of the Gaza Strip. Terrorism is every day--and a part of every life. America just used to turn a blind-eye because it wasn't happening here.
When America was being "terrorized" on 9/11, I was working at the University of Michigan Law School. A few of my Professor friends there are Jewish and from Israel. They said that they expected something like this to happen in their homeland, but never in America. Like I said, before 9/11 terrorism was everywhere, everywhere but here.
Remember Franklin D. Roosevelt's statement that, "All we have to fear is fear itself." Isn't that so true? But just who is causing all of this fear and how on Earth do we fight it? Well, if it is truly fear that we are fighting, and the enemy is faceless, then we have a problem. But don't fret! Here's what we need to do.
We can pretty much conclude that most people of the Earth don't like having their sovereign nations invaded. Nor do most people like being displaced, without work, and without hope. By the way, most people don't like being stripped of basic human rights either. So, now that we have most of the people of the planet on the same page, it's time to get rid of those who are causing all of the problems--the terrorists! But, they are faceless; how can we do that?
Well, we could quit invading sovereign nations under false pretenses. The pretenses aren't really false-they are about oil, logistics, and draining our treasury and our weaponry. We could help in places that don't have resources we greedily desire, like Darfur or the Congo. People of the world used to view America as a helping nation. Isn't that we are really all about--pulling together? Think Katrina and the rouge, tsunami wave that wiped out the entire Indian Ocean basin. Yeah, you're starting to get the picture of the helping hand of America I have now.
And you, America, can do your part and vote for people who are going to make these changes happen. You see, you really have the power under the US Constitution, but YOU just didn't realize that you had that strong, individual power as in Spartacus! You have the right to elect those people who feel just like most of the other people in the world, instead of the powers that perhaps aren't acting in what we believe to be our best interests. It's time to elect strong, courageous leaders to office--leaders with a spine and backbone. Leaders who have the moral courage to write about what you've read here.
Make your light shine. Start to visualize world peace and love, instead of hate and fear, and your light will help shine a new path that will make the invisible face of terror go away under the light of day, because fear and terror hide in darkness and secrecy. Well, sometimes in plane sight. At night we are always more afraid, but by our light we will shine a new path for all to follow and fear no more, and fear itself is what will become afraid. Believe!
We don't have to be Christian, Muslim, Agnostic or Evangelical to know the difference between right and wrong, or to know the difference when people use the pulpit for their own personal benefit. Are these people not possibly the thieves in the temple?
VOTE!! CHANGE THE WORLD!! WORK FOR PEACE!!
Article I, Section 8[1]
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States . . .
Article I, Section 8[2]
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
Article I, Section 8[11]
To declare War . . .
Article I, Section 9[2]
The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
