PRESIDENT PUT ON NOTICE
Nationwide Campaign To Stop
New Obama War Gathers Steam
March 19—Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) took his courageous action to introduce House Concurrent Resolution 107 on March 7, to start a process which would restore the Constitutional standard for declaring war, and prevent the launching of a new catastrophic war by President Barack Obama. The news of Jones' action has spread rapidly in the blogosphere, and his home office in Greenville has been inundated with calls of support (9-1 in favor), so far, from virtually all 50 states.
Given the opportunity to speak out on two national radio talk shows (Savage Nation and the Alex Jones Show), Jones has urged the public to immediately take action in support of his measure, by calling their Congressmen and demanding they co-sponsor the bill, by calling their Senators in order to get a similar bill introduced into the Senate, and to demand of members of the House Judiciary Committee that they immediately schedule hearings on the bill.
Meanwhile, LaRouchePAC has escalated its ongoing campaign for Obama's removal, issuing a leaflet entitled "President Obama Is Put on Notice," which is being mass-distributed in population centers around the nation. The leaflet includes Lyndon LaRouche's assessment that "This bill could save the United States," especially in light of the fact that it is being raised in the midst of Obama's British-directed drive toward a thermonuclear confrontation with Russia and China, over the trigger "issues" of Syria and Iran.
Asked by radio host Alex Jones (no relation), at the end of the March 16 show, why he didn't go ahead directly with a bill of impeachment, Jones said: If people like you all around the country rally in support of H. Con. 107, "I think this will lead to other avenues that need to be led to, like that you are making mention of."
Restore the Constitution
Throughout his interviews, Jones has kept a sharp focus on making a clear, impassioned case for restoring the U.S. Constitution, by reasserting Congress's perogative over the declaration of war. Ever since World War II, he stressed, Congress has abdicated its responsibility, increasingly leaving the decision to the President, with disastrous results.
Walter Jones, who has represented a North Carolina district with several major military bases since 1992, has a history of opposing illegal wars, even when it meant breaking with his party. In 1999, he filed a Federal lawsuit, together with 31 other Members of Congress, when President Clinton brought the country to war in Bosnia. He publicly attacked the Bush Administration's policy in Iraq in 2005. Again, in August 2011, when President Obama launched the war against Libya, while explictly refusing to seek Congressional approval, he joined other Members of Congress, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), in going to court against that unconstitutional action.
The courts refused to take up the cases, claiming that the Congressmen could cut off funding for the war, if they opposed it. But, as Jones explained, they would never do so, because it would be tantamount to putting American soldiers in grave danger. Therefore, he demands that the authorization be obtained before deploying armed forces.
When Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told U.S. Senators on March 7 that the President need only seek international approval for military action against Iran or Syria, and would inform the Congress after the fact, a firestorm erupted among a large number of political activists and Constitutional scholars. But Jones emphasized that he had been working on his resolution for at least five months—it was already filed when he learned of Panetta's outrageous statement.
With great pungency and irony, Jones quoted former Vice President Dick Cheney on how the President doesn't need Congress to go to war, and even Obama (from 2007) on how it's unconstitutional for the President to go to war without Congress's approval.
He said we have to go back to the Constitution, which is why he introduced H. Con. 107, to reassert the principle that it is Congress which declares war.
Will the Citizens Act?
Responding to a question from Alex Jones on why attempts to stop the war in Libya failed, Jones said the Republican leadership wouldn't even allow a resolution of condemnation. When asked what citizens could do, Jones said they should contact their members of Congress to get them to co-sponsor the resolution, as well as to pressure for the Judiciary Committee to have the resolution debated. They should also press to have the same legislation introduced in the Senate.
It is going to take enormous pressure from the citizenry to get Congress to act. The overwhelming majority of Americans are dead set against any new wars, particularly in the Islamic world, and a recent poll, published by World Net Daily, revealed that 90% of the 10,000 people polled would favor impeachment of President Obama over Constitutional violations. But expressing an opinion to a pollster, and fighting to galvanize a mostly cowardly Congress into action, are two very different things.
Jones' resolution was drafted by Constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, who is also known for having authored draft bills of impeachment for President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney for their abuse of Constitutional powers. Fein is personally campaigning for the Jones resolution, although he has also authored a comprehensive impeachment resolution against President Obama, which we include in full in this issue of EIR.
