Congressman Ready to Declare WWIII in Wake of Paris Innocent Civilians be DamnedBy William N. Grigg President Obama is wrong ISIS is not contained, declared Rep. Poe, who on Monday introduced a resolution urging the administration to invoke Article Five. This is our fight, but not our fight alone. American should take the lead and urge a joint response as a body of nations. Poes resolution may precipitate a conflict between the Republican-dominated Congress and President Obama, who has made it clear that he does not want to escalate U.S. military operations against the Islamic State. If the resolution passes and Obama vetoes it, this development would be unprecedented in American history, observes Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano: We have never, ever, ever had a Congressional declaration of war and a president refuse to move on it. Under the Constitution, Congress declares war, and presidents wage war, Judge Napolitano continued. If the resolution passes which may be very likely, given that the Republicans control both houses, and many Democrats may enlist in support of Poes bill then the president would be required to faithfully execute its terms by waging a war he has said he doesnt want to wage and he has said he doesnt believe is in the best interests of the United States. Napolitano also pointed out that the constitutional mechanism for committing the United States to war presupposed an attack on the United States, rather than a reaction to fear because of one awful weekend in another country. This effort to commit the U.S. government to war by circumventing the president, is a role-reversal for the tactics used by President Obama in bypassing Congress to wage war in Libya four years ago. Acting at a time when Congress wasnt in session, the Obama administration assembled an international coalition to demand what could be called a UN declaration of war. In March 2011, the Arab League, by unrecorded voice vote, petitioned the UN to enact a no-fly zone over Libya. The Leagues resolution was brought about, in large measure, through a covert deal between Washington and Riyadh allowing the Saudis to dispatch an expeditionary force to Bahrain to help the Sunni al-Khalifa monarchy put down an uprising on the part of its suppressed and persecuted Shiite minority. With Washingtons tacit blessing, Saudi troops assisted Bahrains U.S.-equipped security forces to massacre peaceful protesters. This was done, once again, to secure an Arab League resolution asking the Security Council to authorize a no-fly zone in Libya, which the public was told would be a limited engagement. As former Republican presidential contender Ron Paul pointed out at the time, establishing a no-fly zone is an act of war. To use a somewhat vulgar metaphor, once warplanes invade and occupy a countrys air space, and the pilots are given orders to kill, foreplay has ended and intromission has occurred. Acting on that principle, the Obama administration quickly abandoned any pretense of restraint, urging the Security Council to pass a resolution authorizing a range of actions going well beyond deployment of warplanes over Libya. The administration obtained a Chapter Seven resolution the UN equivalent of a formal declaration of war.Congress played no role in this process. During congressional testimony a year later, then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was asked about the legal basis for the administrations war on Libya, and if the administration believed it could act without Congress to initiate a no-fly zone in Syria without Congressional approval. Our goal would be to seek international permission Panetta replied, adding, as if by afterthought, that we would come to the Congress and inform you about the progress of the campaign. Once legal permission had been obtained through NATO or some kind of UN Security Council resolution, the president wouldnt need authorization from Congress, Panetta a former Congressman maintained. Many Republican congressmen Ted Poe among them have been highly critical of the Obama administrations reliance on multilateral organizations in conducting foreign policy. Those criticisms often focus on the United Nations, an organization looked upon with special disdain by conservatives. However, NATO is an affiliate of the world body, as defined by Articles 52-54 of the United Nations Charter (which describes Regional Arrangements). During a March 19, 1949 speech calling for Senate ratification of the NATO Charter, Dean Acheson, Harry Trumans Secretary of State, explained that the alliance was designed to fit precisely into the framework of the United Nations, that it was subject to the overriding provisions of the United Nations Charter, and that it was an essential measure for strengthening the United Nations. NATO is precisely the kind of entangling foreign alliance against which George Washington warned in his famous Farewell Address. Its status as an appendage to the United Nations should make it disreputable to conservative Republicans who in this instance are setting aside any pretense of dedication to constitutional principles in order to indulge their war lust and partisan animosity. Ted Poes resolution may result in the U.S. government being maneuvered into what could be a world war but that measure would not be a constitutionally valid declaration of war. This isnt surprising, given that many conservative Republicans embrace the view that the Constitution is a living document where war powers are concerned. There are things in the Constitution that have been overtaken by events, by time, insisted the late Rep. Henry Hyde in 2002, as George W. Bush administration prepared to invade and occupy Iraq. Declaration of war is one of them. There are things no longer relevant to modern society. Why declare war if you dont have to? We are saying to the president, Use your judgment. Having Congress declare war, Hyde concluded, would be inappropriate, anachronistic it isnt done anymore. Perhaps, if Congress had been compelled to follow the anachronistic procedure by deliberating the question of the Iraq war in 2002, the world would have been spared the horror and bloody chaos in which ISIS gestated. Regrettably, Congress revisits its mistakes to compound them, rather than to learn from them. This article first appeared at TheFreeThoughtProject.com Texas Republican Congressman Ted Poe wants to globalize the conflict by invoking Article Five of the NATO treaty. Just a reminder to that psychopath what will be the immdiate target in case his wet dream come through.. If it comes to that, here is just a very partial list of the first hours possible targets. Middle East and Southwest Asia Haifa Tel Aviv Herzliya Dimona Doha Bagram Incirlik Europe Ramstein Hamburg Wiesbaden Toulon City of London Brussels Aviano Vicenza Souda Bay Rota Morn Gibraltar Menwith Hill Mildenhall Australia Pine Gap (hit by waves of multi-megaton warheads) Pacific Region Guam Okinawa Hawaii USSA Mainland San Diego Puget Sound region Bluffdale, Utah Albuquerque/Manzanos Los Alamos White Sands San Antonio Houston Killeen/Ft. Hood Pantex Memphis/Naval Support Activity Mid-South Omaha Minot Malmstrom Tampa Mayport Kings Bay Norfolk D.C./Pentagon/Langley Laurel Manhattan Chicago Mt. Weather Site R Camp David Camp Peary/Cheatham Annex So I hope that you schmuck from Texas have a spare hazmat suit Kevlar undies ?? I would guess this man is owned by the pipe line people (the 1%) trying to get that pipeline from Qatar to the EU. Why not go after ISIS in Iraq where you have been invited no need that pipeline first, so must get rid of Assad. These idiots have no idea where Assad came from. He has a British wife why ? He was a dentist in England until the CIA offed his older anti-western brother after his father died. The 1% thought they had a western leader in Syria who would allow the pipeline to freely pass through Syria Assad said no four years later we have jerks in Congress who will start WW3 to get that damn pipeline to the EU, hundreds of thousand of dead innocent Syrians, millions misplaced, a radical Islamic group who kills everything and the main goal of these idiots get Assad out of Syria to get their pipeline installed the insanity of it all. Im certain at this point, we as a people are very much aware. We ARE armed and prepared, in spite of the efforts of those sworn to uphold, serve, and protect the Constitution and the people of this nation. For the most part, we do not fear. We feel anger at our betrayal. We feel loss, of what this country was. We feel hope and determination, for what it will once again become. We feel justified in our rage at representatives who refuse to represent us, at a congress who draws such tremendous salary and benefits while rarely showing up to even acknowledge their obligations, at a presidential imposter, who usurps kingship over sworn oath of office, and at the courts which uphold from cowardly shadows the criminal actions of all of these puppets for their chosen corporate masters. Declare waron what country? Wars (true WAR) are fought between NATIONS. So all you genius congressdopes tell medeclare war on whom? 