Watch Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey argue, in response to questions from Alabama’s Senator Jeff Sessions, that “international permission” provides the “legal basis” for military action by the United States.
The whole clip is worth listening to. But if you’re short on time, listen to 2:40 through 4:40. Sessions asks if Panetta thinks the Administration could act militarily in Syria without Congressional approval. “[The Administration's] goal,” says Panetta, “would be to seek international permission, and we would come to the Congress and inform you. . . .”
Informing Congress: How thoughtful of them! At least the poor dear don’t have to just hear it on the news with the rest of us.
Yet.
Remember when Congressional approval used to be the legal basis? Remember the Constitution?
This isn’t just a Democratic problem, of course. World War II was our last declared war. But it’s getting worse. President Bush at least got Congressional approval for Afghanistan and Iraq. President Obama, on the other hand, claimed he didn’t have time to meet with members of Congress before taking military action in Libya. And now Secretary Panetta tells Senator Sessions that the Administration would seek permission from NATO or the UN before intervening in Syria, but not from the United States Congress.
Breathtaking.
(And a tip of the hat to North Carolina Renegade)
It seems to me that every President since Truman, with the exception of Eisenhower and Ford (maybe Carter – other than the ill-fated hostage rescue attempt, I can’t recall him doing anything close to an undeclared war) has exceeded his constitutional authority to conduct war. It looks like this will continue as long as we have a Congress that decides it’s okay for “their guy” to ignore the Constitution. Even now we have nitwits like John McCain calling for yet another war in Syria. Only Ron Paul (whom I wouldn’t want to be president of the local Kiwanis let alone the United States) has the wisdom to see the folly of war – especially undeclared war. Although Obama is wrong on just about every domestic policy you can imagine, I think he’s generally correct in his foreign policy positions and is right about Iran and Syria. Too bad he lost sight of that in Libya. He’s obviously wrong here – getting “permission” from the international community? In my mind, Panetta is close to commiting treason to suggest such a thing. Joint Chiefs Chairman Dempsey should be fired on the first day of Romney’s administration (if he manages to beat Obama somehow).
Craig, I’m nodding along in agreement, with a couple of exceptions:
1) Ron Paul has the wisdom to see the folly of war. While this may be technically correct, he unfortunately doesn’t appear to have the wisdom to see how to avoid the folly of war. His naive belief that we should do nothing to hinder Iran from developing a nuclear capacity–so that, he says, they can “defend themselves” and “be treated more respectfully” by their neighbors–would destabilize the region and encourage the folly he abhors.
2) Obama is generally correct in his foreign policy positions. Depending on how you count, there are 190-some countries in the world. We have soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines deployed in over 150 of them. (Here’s a DOD list of countries as of last September, if you’re interested.) That’s just crazy. A country that has its military deployed in over 150 countries has no coherent foreign policy.
For the last ten years, our Active Duty and Reserves have been maintaining a brutal ops pace with revolving-door deployments. Over 300,000 troops have now served three, four or even five tours over in the sandbox, sometimes with only three or four months between deployments. And of course military rates of divorce, PTSD, prescription drug abuse and suicide have skyrocketed as a result. Again, as I said regarding the video, this isn’t just Obama’s problem. It’s one he inherited from Bush, who inherited it from Clinton, etc. But after four years in office it’s now his baby. He has destroyed many of our military personnel, the ones out at the pointy end of the spear, with this insane ops pace. You don’t fight two wars and keep troops in 150 other countries as well. He has retained his predecessors’ fondness for throwing troops at problems around the world. Sure, he’s getting out of Afghanistan–over Petraeus’s objections, and not as part of any strategic vision but just because he needs to draw down in time for the elections–but now he’s asked the Pentagon for military options for Syria. The Obama doctrine, as near as I can tell, is “Fly by the seat of your pants and assume the military will always be able to make more bricks with less straw.”
The soldier who is accused of shooting the civilians in Afghanistan had completed three tours in Iraq prior to his current deployment, which resulted in his going over the edge. I have a nephew in a stryker brigade who is currently on his fifth deployment. There have been many tragedies involving soldiers at joint base Lewis-McChord alone: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/12/us/afghanistan-shootings-base/
The over-extension of our military, and exhaustion of our troops is extremely dangerous to our national security; and the situation cannot be maintained.