George Will offers another excellent column today on our Libyan misadventure. This is worth a read.
Libya and the Potemkin Alliance
by George F. Will - Washington Post
Friday, Jun. 17, 2011
It seems to me that we are daily presented with reasons to dismiss, with prejudice, both of our political Parties and their leadership.
On foreign policy and war making, perhaps all sides might finally agree that American leadership has failed us in recent decades and it is time that we punish politicians for recklessness and misadventure but most especially for using foreign policy and the military for political gain. It’s disgusting.
It will take scholars many decades beyond our lifetimes to measure the consequences of our three current wars as well as the consequences of the alternatives available before hand. Never the less, we should be able to agree that our leaders have botched everything about these commitments. They have made America look weak and foolish. Surely we can expect better and if we are to get better, we must hold leaders accountable – we must stop excusing the inexcusable simply because the bum is on our “side”.
Congress should enforce the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution.
Naturally, there are morons who try to argue otherwise but the Constitution specifically gives the power to make war to the Congress, not to the Executive Branch. The Founders used the Constitution to spell out who has authority for what – anything left out is for the states to decide, not the feds – and the Founders never gave the same power to more than one branch of government. Checks and balance, remember?
Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution says: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
Article 1, Section 8 reads: "The Congress shall have Power To … declare War …”
Congress, not the President.
Presidents with few exceptions have flaunted this bit of law ever since George Washington. Therefore an angry Democratic Congress – having discovered the depth of lies told to the nation by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson – imposed the War Powers Resolution on President Nixon. Nixon promptly ignored Congress, the Constitution and the WPR as have all but one of his successors. The exception, to the horror of “conservatives”, was the universally despised George W. Bush who obeyed the law. The beloved progressive Obama has blithely ignored the law and invaded Libya.
The hypocrisy and naked political expedience of both sides regarding war making is breath taking. Do we still believe in the rule of law? Don’t we all agree that the nation via Congress should decide about war and not just one man? Is it isolationist for citizens to demand that Congress approve invasions and other war making? [And by the way, shouldn’t we demand that Congress pay for wars?]
If Congress were to take back its Constitutional responsibilities, it would certainly become harder to start wars. How bad would that be?
Congress gave Bush permission to invade Iraq – they try to deny it but they did with the October Resolution. Somehow, we blame Iraq on Bush – who obeyed the law – rather than on the Democratic controlled Congress; now Obama has gone to war in Libya illegally. How do we allow these guys to get away with this crap?
The Iraq October Resolution [Section 3a and 3c1] states: “The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate … Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.”
What if Congress had said no to Iraq, as clearly many preferred? What if Congress said no to Libya, as it seems clear would have happened? Would the nation be any worse off? If things did get worse, wouldn’t Congress authorize intervention then?
Most people are upset with the cost of Iraq in blood and money. Most people are discouraged with the costs and prospects of Afghanistan. Most people have trouble understanding why we are attacking Libya. Most folks fear that if Libya was necessary then now we’ll be forced to attack Syria and Yemen and who knows what other failed states and despots. Americans do not want to be the world’s policeman and certainly not now.
The fault folks, lies with Congress and neither Party have shown any responsibility, competence or leadership.
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