Rep. Walter Jones to Obama:
'Abide by Our Constitution'
Sept. 4—Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. (R-N.C.), author of a House Concurrent Resolution, introduced March 7, 2012, that effectively threatens the President with impeachment should he start a war without explicit Congressional approval, took a new step on Aug. 30, and sent the following letter to President Barack Obama, by e-mail and hard copy:
Dear Mr. President:
This letter is written to you out of grave concern that you will once again lead our nation into war without authorization from the Congress. As tensions and rhetoric rise in Syria and Iran, the power to declare war remains vested in the Congress. No resolution from the United Nations or NATO can supersede the power carefully entrusted with the representatives of the American people.
Whether it is Korea, Yugoslavia, or Libya, presidents have continually disregarded the Constitution and sent Americans to war without congressional authorization. In order to prevent further encroachment of executive power, I have introduced House Concurrent Resolution 107. My Resolution states:
"except in response to an actual or imminent attack against the territory of the United States, the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress violates Congress's exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution and therefore constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution."
The above simply restates the Constitution. Our founding fathers had the unique perspective of living subject to the wars of choice waged by a King. As James Madison wrote, allowing the President alone to take the country into war would be "too much of a temptation for one man."
Outside of an actual or imminent attack on America, the only precursor to war can be the authorization of Congress. I call on you to abide by our Constitution, and rely on our country's representatives to decide when war is necessary. There is no greater responsibility than to send our sons and daughters to war. That responsibility remains with the United States Congress.
Sincerely,
Walter B. Jones
Member of Congress
Where Are the Patriots?
Since Representative Jones put forward HCR 107 back in March, he has received enthusiastic feedback from the public—but only gained nine co-sponsors. This, despite the fact that the Obama Administration has been increasingly beating the drums for war, especially in Syria, since the Spring, and that such a war would lead directly toward thermonuclear confrontation with Russia and China.
In alphabetical order, the co-sponsors are:
- Rep. Dan Benishek (Mich.);
- Rep. Dan Burton (Ind.);
- Rep. Mike Coffman (Colo.);
- Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (Tenn.);
- Rep. Louie Gohmert (Tex.);
- Rep. Tom McClintock (Calif.);
- Rep. Michael H. Michaud (Me.);
- Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.); and
- Rep. Reid, Jr. (Wisc.).
The only Democrat among this group is Representative Michaud of Maine—a shameful reflection of the fact that the Democratic Party is functioning under the heel of the power-crazed Obama White House, which puts extraordinary effort into intimidating the Congress. Thus, even those prominent anti-war Democrats who have joined with Congressman Jones in drafting legislation against the permanent war in Afghanistan, or who worked with him in opposing illegal wars previously, have sat on the sidelines. This includes such self-proclaimed iconoclasts as Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) and John Conyers (Mich).
Equally shameful is the fact that so few from the Republican majority in the House have been willing to co-sponsor a resolution which, as Jones notes in his letter to Obama, primarily restates the language of the Constitution, which they have sworn an oath to uphold. Jones reports having extensive discussions with his colleagues, including Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), about the urgent necessity of hearings on HCR 107. So far, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Kerry's Disgusting Role
Despite considerable interest among Senators opposed to the Obama permanent war policy—and push toward thermonuclear confrontation by a repeat of the unconstitutional Libya operation—no Senator has yet introduced a parallel resolution in the Senate. Thus Congress is signalling that it will "roll over" to Obama's British Empire strategy of eliminating national sovereignty once again.
The key culprit in Congress in the Libya case was none other than the previously anti-war John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who ran interference for President Obama's illegal operation. The crucial point came at a hearing June 28, 2011, at which he rammed through a decision which enabled President Obama to flagrantly override the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution, to launch a war against Libya without Congressional approval.
Obama's defense for violating the Constitution, as he stated in a July 6 press conference, is that he doesn't have to justify his actions in Libya, with reference to the Constitution, but can act on his own, for "humanitarian" missions.
Kerry refused to challenge Obama's lies. He ignored those members of the Senate who opposed the illicit war, and refused to have the Foreign Relations Committee demand of Obama that he get approval of Congress. That action would have prevented Obama from continuing the U.S. military contribution on which the nominally French and British-led mission depended—and might perhaps have prevented the barbaric, extra-judicial murder of Muammar Qaddafi. The global war drive, which the British Empire has demanded in the face of its own imminent collapse, would have been aborted.
Kerry, whom some believe to have been viciously threatened in order to abandon his traditional anti-war stance, has not recanted, or changed his behavior in the least. Not only has he refused to join other Senators, such as James Webb (D-Va.), who is retiring from the Senate, in raising the alarm against a possible war against Syria, but he is scheduled to grandstand for Obama's killing policy at the Democratic National Convention.
If America's political leaders continue to allow this kind of behavior from their elected officials, we are on a rapid trajectory toward thermonuclear war.
