Is The War Illegal?

Is the Iraq war illegal?  Ask a lot of folks on the left and you'll probably get told an emphatic "YES!" followed by a suggestion that the President, Vice President and a host of others should be immediately impeached and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should replace them. 

The problem here is that it isn't illegal.  Pelosi knows it and so does Harry Reid.  That's why you've never heard them say it.  You've heard them say a lot of things about Bush and the war, but you have never heard them question the legality of it.

Many people base there assumption that a preemptive war is illegal because we have signed some treaties saying it's a bad idea.  Some point to the UN charter.  But the UN Charter is not law here and the courts have upheld that fact.

When people tell me the war is illegal, I ask them this question first:

What United States law or article of the Constitution was broken or ignored? 

No one seems to know the answer to that but some will venture (as mentioned above) that we signed some treaty or they will mention the UN.

If they can't cite a law or an article, I then tell them they must conclude then, that the war is not illegal, and therefore a matter of United States Policy.

If they cite the treaties, I ask them one more question.

Who did the Congress and the President sign over their war making powers and when did they do it?   Specifically, who is now the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces?

Well that usually ends the debate. 

For an example, go here.  It kind of pissed off the poor guy. 

If the war was illegal, Pelosi and Reid would be shouting it from the roof tops. 

It's policy which is entirely different than law.

My next post in this series, with some help from MOGS from the Diary of the Mad Pigeon, will deal with the legality of the war and how that relates to the Watada's case. 

VW

Comments

[BobF]

Excellent responses! That dude sure got huffy when he couldn't answer your questions or back his babblings. He then goes on to say he is only joining many generals and former Regan and Bush officials in his belief but for some reason he doesn’t name one general or official.

I get a kick out of these clowns who are all upset because we haven’t captured Bin Laden. They make it seem like all you need to do is take a hike in the mountains and he’s sitting by the path waiting to be captured. People don’t realize that Bin Laden was trained by the CIA to fight the Russians and is probably one of the foremost authorities on escape and evade tactics. When people think it’s so easy, remember how long it took to catch the Unabomber. If it wasn’t for his brother, he still would be living in his outhouse in Montana, sending out packages to those he didn’t like. We still haven’t caught D.B Cooper. And, both he and the Unabomber were right in our back yards.

BTW: We secured the Unabomber’s “shack” for the justice department in a hangar at Malmstrom AFB and it literally wasn’t much bigger than an outhouse.

[canuckistani]

Therein lies the problem. The world doesn't consist of just the United States or it's policy. The war may not be illegal, but it sure wasn't too bright to ignore international opinion and waltz into Iraq either. Policy is semantics just finessed to fit the needs of the idiots in charge. If that was you or I doing something that affected THEIR little elite world, you bet your ass it would be illegal!

[Violence Worker]

Canucki, the world is a dangerous place. You may not like the United States being the preeminent super power, but that is the way of the world. You may not like some of the things we do, but at least we DO things. International opinion be damned. I don't particularly care what most of the rest of the world thinks. Most of western Europe is so bogged down in their socialist miasma, they are paralyzed. France is a joke. England is the only European country left with a set of balls and they are losing theirs ever so quickly.

If there was no US, it would be an even more frightful world than it is.

VW

[Violence Worker]

Bob,

It doesn't surprise me. A crazy is a crazy. It would have been interesting to see the sged though.

VW

[BobF]

It's funny though how everybody in the world wants our money. Every nation looks to the US for assistance in times or disaster. Were the ones expected to lead the way in the war on poverty, hunger, disease, gorebull warming, etc, etc, etc,. Nations want us to take the lead and fork out money like its nothing but when we do, they get upset at our American Imperialism.

I 100% for stopping ALL foreign aid, except to Israel, bringing home ALL our troops stationed throughout the world, securing our borders, and setting up Fortress America.