War in Afganistan Un-Constitutional
11.09.2001
My very first "Weekly Thoughts" column promises to be quite short, and yet make people quite angry. Unfortunately, while painful, it's also the truth; read on, if you can handle it...
Now, don't get me wrong. I support actions against the terrorist organizations involved in the 9/11/2001 bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We rattled our tail, they attacked, and now they should feel our fangs. And, if the Taliban was and is a part of the effort to destroy us, we should bomb them to hell (and while I don't doubt they were involved in some way, 'secret evidence' is always worrisome to me - but that's another topic altogether). But that's not what this article is about. This article is about the Constitutionality of the current war in Afganistan - or lack thereof.
In regards to declaration of war and preparation for war, the Constitution of the United States of America, Article I, Section 8 states the following:
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The Congress shall have Power...
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- 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;
"The Congress shall have Power... To declare War" it says - not the President, not the collective States (nor any individual State), but the Congress has the sole power to declare war... and, since no Amendment to the Constitution has as of yet been made to change this requirement of waging war, not even the so called 'War Powers Act' can change that fact. Yet we have military aircraft and personnel over in Afganistan, killing people within the borders of a sovereign foreign nation. Our President is waging war with our troops, and yet Congress has not officially declared war as the Constitution requires (regardless of whether the Congress supports such action or not, which they seem to). This is unlawful to the extreme, for if we are to ignore that part of the Constitution, why not ignore it all?
Again, I'm not arguing that we, the United States, are not justified in waging war against the Taliban and/or any other terrorist organization or government that wishes to harm us. It is our right to defend ourselves and, in my opinion, of all the wars we've fought since World War II, this is the only justifiable war we've been involved in - we were attacked, and now we are responding to protect ourselves.
What I am simply and hopefully clearly saying is that, despite the justifiable nature of our conflict with the Taliban and associated organizations, the fact remains that the war in Afganistan is un-Constitutional (and therefore unlawful), and will remain so until such time as the Congress actually declares war on the Taliban and their ilk. So I therefore close my first Weekly Thoughts article with a call upon the Congress to officially declare war, so that we can actually be the nation that we claim to be - one that follows the rule of law.
Agree? Disagree? Think I'm full of it?
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