[From JRadcliffe]
Read my post #47. YOu still have not shown me where the President is authorized to take this action without a formal declaration of war.
I don't see how a formal declaration of war is necessary to conduct a criminal investigation. You seem confused about what is going on here, so I'll summarize: the Justice Department is planning to interview 5,000 young male foreigners who are not suspected of any crimes as part of the terrorism investigation. They want to ask them questions, apparently many inane questions at that.
So just where does a declaration of war come into this? It's a criminal investigation, and the DOJ is planning to interview a bunch of people who may or may not know something useful. There are people who are upset because they characterize this as racial profiling.
As far as I know, there is no prohibition against the DOJ talking to whoever the hell they want to for whatever reason they want to. We're talking about interviews here, not arrests or summary executions.
Your diatribe in Post #47 is remarkable in many ways, not the least of which is its complete irrelevance to the subject of this thread.
Oh, and as for Post #50, your statement about acts of force being unconstitutional suggests that the executive has no law enforcement powers. You may want to study the Constitution more thoroughly.
As for Pearl Harbor, the point you apparently missed is that the attack itself was an act of war, and regardless of what Congress may have subsequently declared, Japan was waging war against us as of December 7, 1941. It only takes one belligerent party to start a war. Even without a formal declaration by Congress, the executive branch, including the armed forces, was compelled to defend the nation.
Imal