Key West Lou COMMENTARY / RIGHT TO DECLARE WAR

Key West Lou COMMENTARY / RIGHT TO DECLARE WAR

By Louis Petrone

Who has the right to declare war? Congress or the President?

The Constitution supposedly controls.

Article One, Section 8 reads Congress shall have the power to declare war. Beginning with the Korean War however, Article Two, Section 2 came into play. It reads the President is Commander in Chief.

A conflict in application. One which has resulted in the President in effect usurping Congress’ power to declare war.

Up to and including World War II, 11 wars were declared by Congress. Beginning with the Korean War and thereafter, 39 wars without any declaration of war by Congress. The President acted as he sought fit.

The Founding Fathers went to considerable trouble to insure the country they were establishing would find it hard to take the new nation to war. They viewed war as the greatest of national calamities. If war was to be, they wanted to be sure the people and their representatives made the decision. Not any one person.

Truman felt he had to act immediately when North Korea invaded South Korea. He ordered U.S. forces into the conflict from his bed in the middle of the night upon learning of the invasion. He got around the Congressional mandate by describing the U.S. involvement as an “action” rather that war. Congress let him get away with it.

Thirty four thousand Americans were killed in the “action.”

As the years progressed, things got complex. There were times when U.S. forces were engaged as part of NATO or the UN. Other instances when a country per se was not involved. Like al Qaeda and ISIS.

Vietnam created the next problem. Johnson a powerful President. Wanted to be a war President. Roosevelt his hero.

The U.S. was in Vietnam on a limited basis. John wanted to escalate the fighting. Rather than declare war on Vietnam, Congress in 1964 gave Johnson the power to escalate the conflict via the Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution.

By, 1975, 158 thousand Americans had been killed in Vietnam.

Congress in 1973 gave the President power to deploy troops in any venue without a formal declaration of war. In the years following, Presidents invoked the 1973 War Powers Resolution to engage militarily in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Iraq, Libya, the Kosovo War, and Afghanistan.

Now comes Donald Trump. He is an advocate of a strong Presidency. Congress is content to sit back and let the President call the shots.

I am concerned Trump will lead us into a nuclear war. One that will be fought also on our shores.

Trump lacks mental stability. A person who says to Kim Jong Un my button is “much bigger” and “more powerful than yours is inviting conflict. Trump is really saying my dick is bigger than yours, get out of my way.

A handful of Congressional persons cry out for declarations of war by Congress. Tie the President’s hands in this regard. Too few, however.

Unless and until Congress takes back the power Constitutionally theirs, our Nation is in trouble. We live in perilous times.

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