The Iraqi War is Unconstitutional

BS! We can declare war on anyone! UPDATE: We haven't had warfare that qualifies as constitutional in my lifetime... or my parents lifetime for that matter.

To all the strict constructionists and others out there in RIA land who bemoan the usurpations of the U. S. Supreme Court on this clause and that clause of the Constitution, and who defend this war, what part of Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, don't you understand? I shall repeat it for you. "Congress shall have the power...To declare war." This does not mean the President, or the UN, or the National Security Council, or whatever. It means a joint resolution declaring that the United States is at war with another nation, not some sophistry that we have followed since 1945.If we would actually follow the Constitution in this case, we would avoid such things as Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, and future mistakes. The Presidents as commanders in chief can make war. That is the defect of the system. Starting with FDR Presidents made war with impunity. Each should have been impeached and removed for gross violations of the constitution. This includes most Presidents since 1945.

The constitutionality has never been officially settled, but it's another form of manipulating the Constitution and the fact that, like it or not, politics play a part in everything. Technically speaking, it might be unconstitutional, but if it is it's because of an unconstitutional decision made by Congress in the early 70s, which wasn't unusual for the time. United States involvement in Korea and Vietnam were "police actions", or war without it being declared. Particularly after Vietnam, some people looked to stop the president from using this end around for using military force, so congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 which requires the president to get approval of Congress 60 days before using military force. The fact of the matter is this is no different than a declaration of war. It's just a way of someone having the room to technically say, "Hey, this was his idea."

War is not a political issue, it is a Military issue. If we depend on the Congress to whether enter a war or not, it may never happen, given the political games and manipulations going on. Congress should be concerned to make laws, not establish foreign policy or take military decisions. As a matter of fact, Congress should be more concerned of the Judiciary usurping their role and making laws on their own. Update: the Congress did authorize the war in 1991. That war was never ended, there was never a peace treaty signed, there was never an end of war decree by the Congress. A truce, or cease of hostility is not the end of the war. How can Congress declare war on a nation against which there was a declaration of war already?  There is no such a thing as double war.

Not that big of a deal. Why need permission when you simply are going to invade regardless of the evidence?

Read the constitution. The war with Iraq was approve be the Senate. And for all you naysayers out there who think there are guidelines as to who what where and when we can go to War I again stress, READ THE CONSTITUTION!

Only Congress can declare war under the Constitution, so this whole War Powers Act thing was a nifty way to circumvent the Constitution. We haven't declared war on anyone since . . . . well, a long time ago.

Yeah, this is a great topic for mindless discussion while we have soldiers, in combat, in the theater. Great choice.

How is it unconstitutional, what did Bush violate? He is the commander and chief and with approval of congress (which he had) has the right to declare war.