So, will we wake up one morning and find out the US has bombed Iran? [View All]

[TexasLawyer]

Please e-mail and call your elected officials and voice your opposition to this grotesque expansion on the phony "war on terror." It may fall on deaf ears, but at least you'll know you've done something. There are so many arguments to make against war with Iran, especially in light of the quagmire that we've got in Iraq, as well as the recently leaked National Intelligence Estimate.

Another angle is Bush's alleged unilateral power to declare war on Iran. The President does not have that power under the Constitution. The power to declare war belongs to Congress. Apparently Bush believes that the 2001 Congressional Authorization for the Use of Force that preceded the invasion of Afghanistan also authorizes attack on Iran:


War Signals?
By Dave Lindorff
The Nation, Monday 25 September 2006

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092506C.shtml
<snip>

Given the President's assertion that the nation is fighting a "global war on terror" and that he is Commander in Chief of that "war," his prominent linking of the Iran regime with terror has to be seen as a deliberate effort to claim his right to carry the fight there. Bush has repeatedly insisted that the 2001 Congressional Authorization for the Use of Force that preceded the invasion of Afghanistan was also an authorization for an unending "war on terror."<snip>


But if you look at the 2001 Authorization, it is all about September 11. How could that possibly be a legitimate authorization for a Presidentially-declared war against Iran?



http://news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/terrorism/sjres23.es.html
Authorization for Use of Military Force
September 18, 2001

Public Law 107-40

107th CONGRESS

<snip>

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.