Showing posts with label War Powers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War Powers. Show all posts

Monday, October 3, 2022

Remember when Congress used to declare war?

Article 1, Section 8 enumerates war powers of Congress.  Unfortunately, the U.S. Congress has only declared war only 5 times.  Think of how many wars the U.S. has been involved with . . . exactly . . . scores of wars without Congressional declaration.  Those five wars were declared by Congress under their constitutional power to do so were the 

War of 1812 [1812-1814], Mexican-American War [1846-1848], Spanish=American War, World War I [1916-1918], and World War II [1941-1945].

The first war the U.S. engaged in without a declaration was the 1950, Korean War.  

The Korean War was the first modern example of the U.S. being taken to war without a formal declaration, as has been repeated in every armed conflict since.  

Here is Article 1, Section 8, Clauses 11 through 16

“The Congress shall have Power . . . 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”

—U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 8, clauses 11–16 

In talking about the pending Iraq War in 2002, Ron Paul writes, 
only Congress has the authority to declare war. Yet Congress in general, and the committee in particular, have done everything possible to avoid making such a declaration. Why? Because members lack the political courage to call an invasion of Iraq what it really is – a war – and vote yes or no on the wisdom of such a war.

What's sad is that the United States has effectively surrendered this Constitutional power to the UN by waiting for a UN resolution to tell the president to go to war rather than Congress.  Pity.  So, when you hear "resolution" or "Resolution Wars Act," just note that the U.S. has surrendered its constitutional authority to declare war over to the United Nations.  

Though it's Congress's authorization to declare war, some have argued that the President has the powers to direct hostilities.  Tom Woods breaks this down thoroughly.  

But what the framers actually meant by that clause was that once war has been declared, it was the President’s responsibility as commander-in-chief to direct the war. Alexander Hamilton spoke in such terms when he said that the president, although lacking the power to declare war, would have “the direction of war when authorized or begun.” The president acting alone was authorized only to repel sudden attacks (hence the decision to withhold from him only the power to “declare” war, not to “make” war, which was thought to be a necessary emergency power in case of foreign attack).

So I think Tom Luongo above is correct.  The British MI6 will craft a story that will push the U.S. through a UN resolution into war.