(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette
The United States is seemingly on the fast track to attack Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad government. The US had the backing of the Great Britain and some of the European countries but here in the US, intervention has less support than Congress:
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll has finally found something that Americans like even less than Congress: the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Syria. Only 9 percent of respondents said that the Obama administration should intervene militarily in Syria; a RealClearPolitics poll average finds Congress has a 15 percent approval rating, making the country’s most hated political body almost twice as popular.
The poll was taken the same week that reports of the Assad government’s alleged use of chemical weapons against his own people in the rebel held suburbs of Damascus. A clear 60% of the respondent to the poll are firmly opposed to any intervention, while the remainder were unsure.
Obviously President Barack Obama is not listening to the people. Nor is he listening to Congress who prefer that the president consult with them even though under the War Powers Resolution of 1973. According to the WPR, the president is “required to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war.”
Perhaps it is time that the WPR be once again revised to keep the US out of these disatrous adventures.
According to Jon Walker at FDL, it appears unlikely that congress would give its blessing to this action:
Once again we are on the path to significant military action against a country in the Middle East and once again it looks like the intent of the Constitution will be ignored. President Obama will begin military action against a Syria without Congressional approval even though there will be plenty of time to get it. There is no hurry, hard deadline or ticking clock. This is not an emergency.
Obama has not called Congress back into session for an official declaration of war in accordance with the War Powers Clause of the Constitution nor is there any indication that Congress leaders even want to fulfill their Constitutional responsibility by ending their summer recess early.
This has all the earmarks of being a great fiasco that will cause even more harm to US image in the region and even more harm to the Syrian people.
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as well as some information on the Syria situation. Note that there is no military solution!
Click on Petition
(There’s been some words to the effect that becoming involved may be a back door entrance to Iran, even.)
That’s simply no longer a part of law despite what the Constitution says. We can have unofficial undeclared wars which is now, as current law seems to say, permanent. Thus if we are always at war then any action taken is just a part of that war and needs no special approval. In the same way, there is no longer any need to get Security Council permission. The old rules are not in place anymore and will not return. The President does as he pleases–or, more accurately, what the current ruling cliques say he should do.