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To: Vigilant1
The prez cannot declare war on his own, but there is longstanding SCotUS caselaw saying a prez has the power to launch military ops on his own.

There is longstanding SCOTUS law that says Abortion is a Constitutional Right.

The question is how does this pass constitutional muster as intended by our rather isolationist founding fathers?

The first example of this was President Thomas Jefferson sending the Navy to end the threat of the Tripoli pirates preying upon American shipping.

The Tripoli pirates were actually at war with America. They were stealing our boats, kidnapping American Citizens, selling them as slaves and demanding Tribute.

How does this relate to what happened in Syria. If Syria were doing what the Tripoli Pirates were doing, I'd see no problem in launching an attack on them. The Syria missile strike was a unilateral strike against a country that was neither at war with us, threatening us, or posing a danger to American Citizens either here or abroad.

It was in every sense an act of war and not (as in the case of Jefferson) a police action.

How can this be constitutionally defended based on the Constitution and not on some SCOTUS interpretation of the same.

55 posted on 04/07/2017 8:28:56 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (Freep mail me if you want to be on my Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Ping list.)
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To: P-Marlowe; Vigilant1
The Tripoli pirates were actually at war with America. They were stealing our boats, kidnapping American Citizens, selling them as slaves and demanding Tribute.

How does this relate to what happened in Syria. If Syria were doing what the Tripoli Pirates were doing, I'd see no problem in launching an attack on them. The Syria missile strike was a unilateral strike against a country that was neither at war with us, threatening us, or posing a danger to American Citizens either here or abroad.

US Constitution, Article I, Section 8: Powers of Congress:

Enumerated powers

The Congress shall have power. ... .

To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises. ... .

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nation. ... .

Congress can declare war, but it is the President, as Commander-in-Chief, who must prosecute the war, via the armed forces. Similarly, the Congress sets the laws and penalties against piracy- and violations of the Law of Nations- but it is the Chief Executive who will direct the action required thereof, as, for instance, ordering the launching of several dozen TLAM missiles from Navy ships.

The violations of the Law of Nations in this case would be The Geneva Gas Protocol and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention, the grounds for the conviction and hanging of one Saddam Hussein.

68 posted on 04/07/2017 9:29:57 PM PDT by archy (Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Except bears, they'll kill you a little, and eat you.)
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