Posted on 08/31/2013 12:38:55 AM PDT by Freedom of Speech Wins
Obama May Be Walking Into an Impeachment Trap
Posted on Aug 30, 2013
Beth Rankin (CC BY 2.0)
By Kevin Zeese, PopularResistance
This article originated with PopularResistance.org.
The irony of the Obama presidency may hinge on whether he attacks Syria. He began his presidency prematurely winning the Nobel Peace Prize and could end it being impeached for starting an illegal war without congressional or UN approval – violating both domestic and international law.
Yesterday 163 Members of Congress sent letters to President Obama telling him that under the US Constitution he is required to get congressional approval before beginning a military attack. The letter drafted by Rep. Scott Rigel (R-VA) had 140 signatures, 119 Republicans and 21 Dems. Rep. Barbara Lee also circulated a letter that had 53 signers, that calls on the president to seek congressional approval.
The Rigel letter warned Obama that engaging in military action “would violate the Separation of Powers Clause that is clearly delineated in the Constitution.” They also note that the justification for war in Libya also violated the Constitution. The Lee letter warns that “we all swore to uphold and defend” the Constitution; and that we should not engage in an “unwise war – especially without adhering to our own Constitutional requirements.” In their concluding paragraph they warn “Before weighing the use of military force, Congress must fully debate and consider the facts and every alternative . . .”
President Obama knows the limits of his powers. In fact, if there is an impeachment proceeding his own words will be quoted. When he was running for president, Obama told the Boston Globe: “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”
Vice President Biden, in a 2007 campaign event in Iowa, went further, not only stating clearly that the president does not have unilateral power to conduct military attacks but threatening impeachment of President Bush if he did so.
The Green Shadow Cabinet of the United States was explicit calling on President Obama to seek congressional approval before going to war, noted that under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the US Constitution, it is the Congress that determines whether the United States goes to war. They also highlight the potential of impeachment writing: “If President Obama launches an attack without prior explicit authorization by Congress, he will have committed an offense worthy of impeachment.” [Disclosure, I serve as Attorney General in the alternative cabinet.]
If impeachment proceedings are held all of the doubts about the war will come out. People in the military have protected themselves by telling President Obama that they have serious doubts about a military attack. The have warned Obama about potential blowback, misusing the military to send a message with no clear strategy, drawing the US into a vexing war when they are already burdened by a complicated withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some have used words like “potentially devastating consequences” Reportedly, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, has warned in great detail about the risks and pitfalls of U.S. military intervention in Syria, warning “deeper involvement is hard to avoid.”
If the war goes wrong, and wars almost always go wrong, President Obama will see the memorandums of various members of the military who warned him. And, they will be called to testify and tell the world that President Obama was warned but went ahead anyway – without congressional approval in violation of the Constitution.
What could go wrong? Syria has the ability to defend itself and attack US military vessels. Iran and Russia have already indicated they will be drawn into the conflict. Threats of retaliation are already being made and troop movements are occurring. Russia is moving two additional naval ships, a missile cruiser and a large anti-submarine vessel, into the Mediterranean to strengthen its presence in case of a US attack. Russia and Saudi Arabia have exchanged threats over Syria. Russia threatening an attack on Saudi Arabia if the US attacks Syria with President Putin ordering a “massive military strike” against Saudi Arabia in the event that the West attacks Syria. Saudi Arabia is threatening Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia at the Olympics.
Iran, Syria and Hezbollah have threatened to retaliate against Israel and other US allies in the Middle East in the event of a US attack on Syria. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, told the Tasnim news website, that an attack on Syria “means the immediate destruction of Israel.”
Impeachment?
Cue Race Card in...3...2...1...
Race card already being played.
He's starting WWIII to hide the Morsi Egyptian Trials! Proof he funded Benghazi, and ALqueda!
Makes me yearn for leaders of the caliber of Former President Reagan and Former PM Margaret Thatcher.
Can he be stopped from starting World War III?
Is this World War III if he gets his attack on Syria?
Obama using the IRS to attack his political enemies has not gotten a impeachment...nothing will.
Obama gets us into it.
There is a paper and payroll trail a mile wide with Bammys name on it funding Benghazi!
It's gotta be world war to cover TREASON!
That may be right. The next Bob Barr is needed here.
Yes, I also long for the Thatcher/Reagan years.
They were gifts from a merciful God.
I’d hate to speculate in print about where the gift of Obama was sent from. :-/
It’s wrong, but I keep thinking how much fun it would be to see Obozo get his ass kicked playing foolish games in Syria.
But this business is so effing serious that that sort of thinking is idiotic... this may be the most dangerous period since the Cuban missile crisis.
We need to pray for Obama, that he gains the wisdom to make the right choices. Millions of lives may hang in the balance...perhaps even mine and yours.
>> nothing will...
Congress is inept... Our “representation” is screwing us Royally.
Full Agreement and millions could easily turn out to be billions. Full Agreement with your assessment. Was told one year ago things were not looking good. I thought the crisis maybe would not reach this point this quickly but was wrong. I defer to the warning of things are not looking good which was told me one year ago. Wisdom was in those words of one year ago, and I thought that with luck it maybe would not be the case but this crisis has surprised me and normally am not surprised by much. Am still upbeat though and maybe zer0 and his crowd can be beaten back and there will be no attack on Syria. An attack on Syria probably opens a can of worms even the Angels do not want to eat (imho), and Angels like worms. Not certain about Angels actually liking worms but still remain upbeat. May God’s Angels forgive me.
Frankly..., I don't recognize the U. N. as an arbiter of anything. It's basically a rogue organization trying to usurp sovereign nation's own self-determination. Fail!
A number of the issues we face today as major problems, were pushed by the U. N. Why should we or any nation respect an institution whose troops rape and pillage children across Africa?
This writer loses me when they interject the U. N. into this conversation.
Hate to say it, but they're wrong. Presidents have been fighting wars without congressional approval since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Which is one reason why someone like Obama should never be elected in the first place.
Weren’t these arguments made against Reagan and Bush?
"Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him. But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States."
~Barack Hussein Obama, October 2, 2002
Impeachment will never occur because the Liberals won’t allow it - not matter what Obsma does. Obama is the grand liberal experiment - a Black man as president.
Obama has long been described as the most intelligent Black to ever walk the earth. To allow for impeachment would be to admit that Obama can’t do what white people, including the “Idiot” Geroge Bush were able to do.
In a SANE time, impeachment hearings would have been under way 3 YEARS AGO!!!
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