Senators-in-Chief ....(Congress has no Constitutional power to micromanage a war)

WSJ Opinion Journal ^ | Thursday, January 25, 2007 | Editorial

[IrishMike]

To understand why the Founders put war powers in the hands of the Presidency, look no further than the current spectacle in Congress on Iraq. What we are witnessing is a Federalist Papers illustration of criticism and micromanagement without responsibility.

Consider the resolution pushed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday by Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel, two men who would love to be President if only they could persuade enough voters to elect them. Both men voted for the Iraq War. But with that war proving to be more difficult than they thought, they now want to put themselves on record as opposing any further attempts to win it.

Their resolution--which passed 12-9--calls for Iraqis to "reach a political settlement" leading to "reconciliation," as if anyone disagrees with that necessity. But then it declares that the way to accomplish this is to wash American hands of the Iraq effort, proposing that U.S. forces retreat to protect the borders and hunt terrorists. The logic here seems to be that if the Americans leave, Iraqis will miraculously conclude that they have must settle their differences. A kind of reverse field of dreams: If we don't come, they will build it.

The irony is that this is not all that far from the "light footprint" strategy that the Bush Administration was following last year and which these same Senators called a failure. It is precisely the inability to provide security in Baghdad that has led to greater sectarian violence, especially among Shiites victimized by Sunni car bombs. The purpose of the new Bush counterinsurgency strategy is to provide more security to the population in the hopes of making a political settlement easier.

[IrishMike]

Excellent Article.

[mewzilla]

To understand why the Founders put war powers in the hands of the Presidency, look no further than the current spectacle in Congress on Iraq.

Amen.

[tiredoflaundry]

PING!

[MadIvan]

The Senate may not have the power to do it, but it has nevertheless damaged America's image. It's really unfortunate that the Senate did this on the same day that your Ambassador asked Britain to keep troops in Iraq; with the government squabbling and bickering like it is the request is uncertain in purpose and duration.

Regards, Ivan

[Peelod]

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[kittymyrib]

I would be very ashamed of my senator if he voted to cut and run. Every patriot who has such a quisling "representative" should be on the phone every day to his office telling him that he is giving aid and comfort to America's enemies. Friends of ours just lost a member of their family in the helicopter crash last Sat. in Iraq. He will have died for nothing if Hagel and Biden have their way.

[cloud8]

I am glad at least Paul Gigot has his head screwed on straight and realizes the stakes involved. It isn't the President who has lost credibility, it's Congress. 535 prima donnas.

[Mo1]

The Dems don't care ..


They will challenge the President's authority .. have the courts take it up and by the time courts get done dealing with it .. they (dems) can do alot of damage to this war

[IrishMike]

The DRats have already done a lot of damage to the country, the war on terror and the troops.
The lust for power has cost them their sanity.

[TNCMAXQ]

Many Republicans haven't helped either. I have a letter from the RNC sitting in the trash can at home. Maybe I should dig it out and send it back with a note saying I will contribute again when Chuck Hagel gets out of the party.

[Mo1]

They never had sanity

They just learned how to lie to the people better

[SMARTY]

The 'politicians' in Congress are behaving themselves just like whores in this whole thing. The ONLY people with any integrity and resolve in the WOT have been Dick Cheney and George Bush.

No one else could absolutely be relied upon for unalloyed commitment and unwavering determination in the US Coalition effort to stay the course.

The MSM and the Liberals in this country and worldwide, have shown NO objectivity in their view or their understanding of events and deliberately try to cut the ground out from under honest and courageous people who see the danger and have staked their personal and professional careers on the success of our policies and efforts. If the Dixie Chics are ashamed of President Bush, think how all the rest of us feel about the Congress of the US!

[Bahbah]

Thanks, tol.

One of the most outrageous things I think I have ever seen was John Warner daring to admonish General Petraeus for giving an honest (and obvious) answer to a fair question.

[IrishMike]

When Nancy 'blinks' and Johnny 'tears'
..... they're lying.

[tiredoflaundry]

Several Senators protested and demanded that the general stay out of domestic politics, but his only offense was telling the truth.

This line cracked me up! The senator's should take their own advice and stay out of military matters! Let our troops DO THEIR JOB!!

[IrishMike]

If the Dixie Chics are ashamed of President Bush, think how all the rest of us feel about the Congress of the US!

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Not being a fan of polls myself, consistantly congress is lower than the president.
Not a daily topic of their darling media.

[Spok]

It would make an interesting topic for a doctoral thesis to study all American wars and the presidents who presided over them, making comparisons of domestic conflicts that ravaged those presidencies. Many wars have been unpopular, including the American Revolution and the Civil War. Popular support, as with WWII, is the exception, not the rule. How many unpopular wars, like the Civil War, were ultimately won because of the president's unwillingness to bend under domestic pressure? And how would history have been changed?

[FES0844]

We have no "statesmen" in Washington, only POLITICIANS...and all are windbags...all talk, no ACTION.

[OpusatFR]

The left doesn't give a rat's behind about the Constitution of the US.

Here's a little summation of the fun and games coming up on February 7:

"Global Constitutionalism

February 16-17, 2007
Sponsored by the Stanford Law Review and Stanford Constitutional Law Center

The unifying theme will be the manner in which constitutionalism is developing, and should develop, around the world as viewed from the perspective of the U.S. and other nations with their own proud and distinct constitutional traditions."

http://lawreview.stanford.edu/events/symposium/

Oh yeah, and the usual suspects, Sandra Day O'Connor and friends.

[Rummyfan]

Consider the resolution pushed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday by Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel, two men who would love to be President if only they could persuade enough voters to elect them.

The irony is that neither Biden nor Hagel has a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected President! Yet they are willing to conduct this treasonous aiding-the-enemy vote to further political ambitions! They should be run out of the Capital tarred and feathered!