Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Alicea
I'm sorry Ferd ... but to act as if a President constitutional right to repel what he deems as attacks on America is INDEED VERY CONSTITUTIONAL.
Simply put the President has war powers and it's guaranteed to him by the Constitution and War Powers resolution of 1973.
|
But this War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional. By the way, here is the extent of the President's power with regard to the military, quoting from Article 2 of the Constitution: "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States."
Now, notice the power Article 1 of the Constitution gives to CONGRESS:
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations*;
To declare War, grant
Letters of Marque and
Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress
*For more about what this is:
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/LAWOFNAT.HTM and
http://www.constitution.org/vattel/vattel.htm.
Quote:
|
The purpose of the War Powers Resolution is to ensure that Congress and the President share in making decisions that may get the U.S. involved in hostilities. Portions of the War Powers Resolution require the President to consult with Congress prior to the start of any hostilities as well as regularly until U.S. armed forces are no longer engaged in hostilities (Sec. 3); and to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities if Congress has not declared war or passed a resolution authorizing the use of force within 60 days (Sec.. 5(b)). Following an official request by the President to Congress, the time limit can be extended by an additional 30 days (presumably when "unavoidable military necessity" requires additional action for a safe withdrawal). [Wiki]
|
But it's still unconstitutional.
Quote:
|
Furthermore early Presidents took military actions w/o formal declaration from Congress.... Adams in the Quasi War ... and Jefferson in the War of Tripoli ...
|
Now, here's what really happened with the quasi-war:
In an effort to resolve differences with France that had accumulated between the two nations since the Treaty of Alliance of 1778, President John Adams dispatched a commission of three men to meet with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Talleyrand in 1797. After many delays, the American commissioners were approached by three intermediaries of Talleyrand, who demanded apologies for allusions critical of France made by President Adams and payment of a bribe of several million dollars before official negotiations could proceed. Convinced that further negotiations were hopeless the three commissioners returned to the United States, and President Adams released their dispatches to Congress, substituting X, Y, and Z for the names of Talleyrand’s agents. “I will never send another minister to France without assurances that he will be received, respected, and honored, as the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation,” Adams declared. The American public was outraged at publication of the dispatches, and Congress enacted a series of measures to raise an army and authorize a Navy Department. It also unilaterally abrogated treaties with France, authorizing privateers and public vessels to attack French ships found competing with American commerce. Between 1798 and 1800 the U.S. Navy captured more than 80 French ships although neither country officially declared war.
SOURCE
As for Tripoli, Jefferson was going against Barbary pirates that had been attacking American ships. France and Britain had the same problem with the pirates until those countries paid off the Barbary states.
Linear Mode
