We have actively attacked several countries with cyber attacks. A clear act of war in today's world. We also operate a drone program which routinely targets civilians on foreign soil that we aren't at war with. These programs are operated by US military and private contractors to the US military. This President is a Constitutional scholar who has done everything to justify expansion of Presidential powers to levels never seen before. Your assertion that he is somehow looking to reduce those powers that he states unequivocally that he has simply doesn't pass the smell test. He put his foot in his mouth. He needs to maintain his credibility. It may be a worthy goal on it's own merits but it's not a Constitutional issue and it's certainly not up to Congress. This is classic CYA.
Call me stupid, but isn't it just semantics to say that this is a limited action strike to take out the airstrike capability of Syria, when the fact that one nation launches a military strike against another nation who did not provoke them an act of war? Am I wrong in thinking that whatever resolution our government comes up with, it is an act of war to strike Syria.
The US needs a legitimate casus belli to launch an assault on Syria. That cause for war can include an imminent threat to US interests even if that threat has not yet expressed itself, although acting on an imminent threat would expose the US to potential international legal action after the fact. The President of the USA does not have the authority to launch an assault on a sovereign nation because they have crossed some red line that he drew that is not otherwise enforceable under international law. Syria is not a signatory to the chemical weapons ban and so the enforcement portions of that treaty are not a legal casus belli to launch an assault on Syria. If Syria used chemical weapons against any state that state would have a casus belli to deal with the situation. If Syria used chemical weapons against any state that was a signatory to the chemical weapons ban then every state that is a signatory to that ban would have a casus belli. In the absence of such use there is no legal authority to intervene due to chemical weapons. If President Obama had good intelligence that Syrian chemical weapons were about to be used on US interests, including allies of the US, then he would have the authority to launch a pre-emptive strike to remove them. Absent that intelligence he has no such authority. There are a number of areas in which the US has acted as world policeman in recent decades, since the fall of the Soviet Union. That authority was always used either under the imminent threat doctrine or as part of a multinational coalition of agreeing states or in response to an attack on US interests or allies. This situation has none of the legal underpinnings of the mostly successful police actions the US has undertaken. It's different on a bunch of levels and for the US to treat it as though it was somehow the same would be a mistake.
Libya fits this description perfectly. France, Italy and Great Britain's private oil interest were under imminent threat so the US ran 99% of the police action and hid behind a Nato action.
And if NATO was willing to be the umbrella here the US would probably do this again. Absent NATO (with the casus belli of NATO member's legitimate interests being threatened in the case of Libya) the US does not have that authority to act. The Constitution was not written to allow the US to conquer the world. The founding fathers were *very* conscious of Greek and Roman history and although they modeled some aspects of the Republic off of those examples they were very careful to write the thing such that Caesar would wind up hung for his actions instead of awarded an Empire to rule over.
No. Obama is pretending to play chess. Bush, otoh, is a checkers player, and when comfronted with an asshole, he jumps him.
Yes. Assad knows a eunuch when he sees one. This is what should have happened. Obama: get me the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the targets, and a red pen. Chairman: here you go Sir. Obama: while circling targets, get me Putin. vlad, Snowden needs a roommate, get this asshole out of Syria, before I shove a drone up his ass, this is not a discussion.
Bway, multilateral institutions are vehicles for giving voices to those that should STFU. Remind me again, whose failed efforts at Colonialism, we are cleaning up in in Africa, and the Middle East. Right, France and Britain. And your meek effort at painting the Imperialist brush, is beyond weak. We dont Colonize.so please stop saying it. But it is beyond time to drain the fucking swamps, and fix the world from the assholes that did. Authority to Act? Really? Once the biggest kid on the block gets kicked in the balls by some weasel, you set to stomping all the weasels out of existence. We spent 40 years letting people die, fighting proxy wars in Soviet client states. It took Bush to stand up and say, fuck this, there is good, and there is evil. And he took much shit for it. We need to follow that thread to its logical conclusion. Assad used chemical weapons. Hence, he needs to die. You support terror, we roll you, period. (iran this means you) And, vlad, if you dont like it...we really dont give a f@@@ that war is over, you lost. (and before you get all agitated, thats the Chinese long term view) eliminate the gnats, so you can concentrate on the vultures. China, is trying to become a threat. We cant be running around swatting flies, worried about random assholes, when 1/3 of the worlds population, between Russia, and China is controlled by governments hostile to us. Swat the fucking flies, and let their populations wonder how far we will go.
bway, i generally value your opinions, but you gotta lay off the lefty hash pipe. The President, of the United States...needs zero justification for military action. You may not like it, but there is no International Law. Might makes Right. Too bad, so Sad. Clinton lobbed missles into a foreign country at an outlaw. An outlaw he refused, to take into custody btw. Is he a criminal? He bombed Serbias river infrastructure, was that a criminal act? Congress need not declare war, and the international community holds zero weight. Thats life. You may disapprove, but thats the reality.
That's the problem. We the people disapprove. a strike has an 11% approval rating at this point. And yes,Clinton,Bush all war criminals. I'm not going to change your view point,but to think this is cut and dry as if Asssad used chems and the good ole US is coming to save the day is foolish. It's all about making someone some money.
The justification should be a "NATO" strike to resolve humanitarian concerns. Evidence has to prove Syria is violating chemical weapons usage per the Chemical Weapons Convention
Nice line but complete BS. Bush never got Osama because he was to busy running a for profit operation for his friends in Iraq to give a shit. He bankrupted the country, enriched his friends through war profiteering at a record pace and destabilized the entire region when they dismantled the Iraq army for no reason. Obama made the classic diplomatic mistake, he drew a red line. I still haven't read where we are sending pallets of money to foreign nations run by US contractors while our economy is inflating into one of the worst bubbles since the roaring 20's. Obama sucks but based on any reasonable comparison to Bush the guy is one of the greatest Presidents in the lifetime of anyone under 13.
Obama may be a huge disappointment but he is miles better than W. The reason we are in this mess is largely do to the failed Bush policy.
It really doesn't matter what President is in office or what party they belong to, that's just the WWE storyline they want you to argue about so you don't act like a "crackpot" and question the government as a whole. Presidents and parties ceased to matter shortly after the CIA blew JFK's brains out in Dallas long ago.
100% truth. Divided we fall,on purpose. Syria isn't something Obama gives a shit about,Its what he is being told to do by people far above him. That is why congress will follow suit.
