We must declare the obvious

The Michigan Partisan

By Page W. H. Brousseau IV
TIMES STAFF WRITER

A military assault upon Iraq seems, at this time, a matter of when. I believe the Administration will wait until after the congressional elections in November to launch an attack to avoid any "Wag the Dog" charge Democrats may direct upon the GOP. However, just what use of force should the Congress give to the Commander in Chief?

Legally, the president does not even need the Congress's permission to launch an attack. There are many ways for the president to wage war without congressional approval. But an overthrow of Iraq would be historic, and congress must declare war. We must eliminate "police action" from our vocabulary, and members of Congress need to show they have a pair and put their vote on the pages of history.

One way to avoid the declaration of war is the War Powers Act of 1973. This act was pushed through Congress to rein in the president's war making powers, destroy the "imperial presidency" and restore the Founder's intent on war, which is giving that power to the congress. This act gives the president 60 days before he must receive authorization from congress in using US armed forces in an operation.

Following the letter of this law, President Bush may attack Iraq for two months, and then withdraw. Remember, the ground attack in the Persian Gulf War in 1991 lasted just 100 hours after a six week air bombardment.

The War Powers Act was used by President Reagan for the invasion of Grenada in 1982, and President Bush (41) for the invasion of Panama in 1989. In both of these incidents the US military overthrew the installed governments on the basis of American interest.

In Grenada, med school students were held by Communist captors and in Panama, the federal police force had assaulted a Naval Officer and his pregnant wife and a Marine was shot in another incident. Coupled with the insanity of the cocaine wholesaler, Manuel Noriega flashing his sword and vowing death to America, the administration acted to preserve the stability of the country that contained the then-owned and operated US Panama Canal Zone.

The War Powers Act was born out of the post Second World War aversion to war. As North Koreans marched across the 38th parallel in 1950, President Truman forced a resolution through the UN Security Council, not the Congress. Congress was nearly unanimous on fighting for South Korea; however, many Republicans gladly supported the president because of the GOP's longstanding interest in Asia and anti-Communism.

In November of that year, nearly half a million Chinese soldiers invaded North Korea sending the Americans back south in one of America's darkest hours. Since the American forces in Korea did nearly all of the fighting after the initial North Korean attack, the attack by the Chinese was nothing short of a declaration of war upon the US. Now that a large country was waging a war upon the US, men, planes, bases, supplies were all funneling down from China. This lasted until the end of the war in 1953.

Congress, perhaps wary of a sustained war with China so quickly after the end of WWII, and watchful of the growing Soviet power in Eastern Europe, chose to continue the struggle on the Korean Peninsula as if nothing other then a substitution at a sporting event had happened

During the 1950s, Congress relinquished more and more power to the President on dealing with the use of the military. President Eisenhower sought, and congress granted him, power to use force to defend Formosa and use force to defend the Suez Canal should the Soviets get involved with the Arab-British-French-Israeli Suez War of 1956.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964 gave President Johnson the power to wage war upon North Vietnam as he saw fit to revenge US honor that supposedly was insulted when gunboats attack two US warships off the waters of North Vietnam. Though an actual attack is thought to have never taken place, congress passed the resolution with only a few dissenters. Thus America's longest war was fought until 1973, upon which time President Nixon found "peace with honor" and the last US combat troops left South Vietnam.

During the war, US troops attacked and invaded Laos and Cambodia in a vain effort to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail that was bringing supplies and fresh troops down from the north. The invasion was militarily necessary because whenever a guerilla force has a refuge to re-supply and rest it wins. However, the backlash at home was enormous, and the end of the war was now near.

Vietnam affected both the Congress and the President in different ways. Congress was much more bullish when it came to foreign policy, believing it had renounced too much power in the 1964 resolution. The presidency was made impotent and ineffectual in dealing with foreign crises. Presidents seemed to be working more on polls instead of the merits of the need to use force.

After Iranian radicals invaded the US embassy (an act of war itself) in Tehran and took 52 hostages for 444 days, President Carter approved a Special Forces plan to rescue them. Equipment failures and a helicopter crashing into a cargo plane at the staging area left eight servicemen dead and 'Desert One' the premier failure of the Carter Presidency.

The hostages were released minutes after President Reagan was sworn in, and Iran, with its exported terror groups became the new American enemy. In 1983, Shi'ite militants, financed by Iran, attacked a barracks in Lebanon where 300 Marines lie sleeping. The bomb destroyed the barracks and killed 241 Marines plus 56 French paratroopers. The 5,800 man international force had been there for a year in a "peace keeping" role. Pres. Reagan promised not to back down, but under pressure from congress and the press he quickly withdrew the remaining troops. Once again, America was the target of a direct assault by a foreign power, and our leaders cowardly retreated.

In 1986, US forces attacked installations within the country of Libya after two US servicemen were killed in a disco blast in Germany. This may have been the one time in the 1980s where bombs proved louder than rhetoric. Congress and the public overwhelmingly supported the attack.

After the successful invasion of Panama the next foreign policy hurdle for Pres. Bush was Iraq. After the invasion of Kuwait, Bush quickly started forming a coalition to resist Iraq while sending forces to protect a vulnerable Saudi Arabia from an Iraqi attack. Bush sought UN permission before congressional approval, which was passed over Democratic objections just days prior to outbreak of hostilities. War was approved but not declared. Thus, we entered the 1990s with a precedent for waging war.

Shortly after President Clinton was sworn in; it was revealed that Iraqi intelligence had attempted to assassinate former Pres. Bush (an act of war) on a recent trip to Kuwait. Clinton responded to this by launching cruise missiles at the Iraqi intelligence building in the wee hours of the morning, in order to reduce casualties. Here, a foreign nation has attempted to kill a former head of state, and Clinton was worried about Iraqi casualties. This is the start of attempted casualty-free war.

In 1996, 19 airmen are killed in the Khobar barracks bombing (an act of war) in Saudi Arabia. Individuals with connections to Iran were found to be responsible. However, the president, wary of attacks on his military record (or lack there of) refused to push the Saudis on information of and from the terrorists.

On Aug. 20, 1998, bombs leveled US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (2 acts of war) killing 252, 12 of which were Americans. Al-Qaeda and Usama bin-Laden quickly issued a statement of responsibility for the attacks. Two days later American cruise missiles attacked a factory suspected of creating chemicals in the Sudan desert. Despite CIA information that this plant was harmless, the administration destroyed it, along with a few abandoned $10 tents in Afghanistan.

This event caused a mixed reaction from Republican leaders in congress. Some in the GOP were quick to praise the assault as an act of self defense, while others shouted "Wag the Dog" because the attacks occurred on the day the President's Grand Jury testimony became public. "Wag the Dog" was again used when Clinton launched Desert Fox in December, the very day the House was scheduled to vote on articles of impeachment.

In 1999, just weeks after the Senate refused to remove the president he directed the military and NATO to attack Yugoslavia. The three-month operation was never approved by the House; however, it did appoint the money to wage it. Once again, the congress, in a pusillanimous way, ignored its Constitutional duties.

In 2000, the USS Cole was bombed (an act of war) by Al-Qaeda (again) killing 17 sailors. This time we did nothing. Then we got a new president and '9/11' entered our lexicon.

Now Bush is operating under the use of force resolution passed last fall. This resolution was so vague it can be used to attack Iraq. Furthermore, Iraq is in violation of multiple UN resolutions and the terms of the cease-fire agreement by refusing UN inspectors. These reasons give the president the room to maneuver for an attack on this state that poses a clear and present danger to the US.

However, in the interest of the Constitution the Congress must declare war. If we are to overthrow a government, and hopefully replace it with a democratic, capitalist society, congress must admit that that much power is too important, and this cause is too historical to be done under the auspices of a 'resolution.'

We must declare war. We must before Iraq develops nuclear weapons and leaves Israel and midtown Manhattan in smoldering radioactive rubble. Iraq has attacked US warplanes nearly daily since the cease-fire in 1991.

We are at war with Al-Qaeda, and since 1991 we have been in a de facto war with Hussein and Iraq. This will not be a "precision strike" or a quick "mop-up operation," this will be war, we have no Northern Alliance to carry our water and fight on the ground for us. Congress needs to stand up, admit the obvious, declare war, and let the president "whoop 'em."