Empower America: Congress Must Declare War (Bennett, Kemp, Kirkpatrick)

Empower America ^ | September 12, 2001 | William Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeane Kirkpatrick

[SlickWillard]

William Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeane Kirkpatrick Call On Congress To Pass Formal Declaration Of War
	[September 12, 2001] by Empower America
	Washington, DC, September 12, 2001—Today, Empower America co-directors William Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeane Kirkpatrick agreed with President Bush and Secretary of State Powell that the United States was attacked yesterday in an act of war. They called upon the Congress to issue a formal declaration of war against the entire fundamentalist Islamic terrorist network. They said, "We are at war with all fundamentalist Islamic entities waging war against the United States and our civilization, whether they assume the identities of Osama bin Ladin’s Al-Qaida, The Islamic Jihad, or any other amorphous grouping or ‘non governmental organization’ that is credibly known to be part of this abominable network of terror. The declaration of war should also apply to foreign nations that sponsor, harbor or support individuals and entities at war with the United States. "Yesterday, Americans witnessed and experienced evil. We were struck by a criminal act of war that will remain with us forever. Thousands of innocent human lives were targeted yesterday. We shall never be able to compensate for the innocent lives that were lost. But America is more than the sum of its people and its wealth. America is the world’s best hope for freedom, opportunity and democracy. It was that hope and idea that was targeted, and it is that hope and idea we must and shall defend. "On February 23, 1998, The World Islamic Front for Jihad—a non-governmental umbrella group of Islamic fanatics—issued a formal declaration of war on the United States, which said in part, ‘jihad is an individual obligation . . . and we call on every Muslim who believes in God and hopes for reward to obey God’s command to kill the Americans and plunder their possessions wherever he finds them and whenever he can.’ "Since then, we know of three specific acts of war committed against the United States under that declaration: the bombing of the US embassies in Africa, the USS Cole anchored in a Yemen port, and the heinous war crime committed yesterday on American soil when hijacked commercial airplanes full of civilians were used as bombs against the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. "We are at war, and Congress has the responsibility to declare war against those people and organizations waging war on us and against any nation known to be sponsoring, supporting or harboring those people waging war on us. Once having declared war, we must wage it, and remove this terrorism and these terrorists from the face of the earth."

[SlickWillard]

Congress has the responsibility to declare war against those people and organizations waging war on us and against any nation known to be sponsoring, supporting or harboring those people waging war on us.

Unfortunately, Congress cannot declare war on individuals, or on groups of individuals. Congress declares war on nations. Initial reports indicate that the hijackers were Egyptian and Saudi nationals, carrying Egyptian and Saudi passports. The sad and ugly fact of the matter is that Congress must declare war on Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

If, as initial reports indicate, these men were created in Egyptian and Saudi wombs, if these men were nurtured by Egyptian and Saudi culture, if these men were loosed upon the world by the Egyptian and Saudi societies, then it is the Egyptian and Saudi cultures and societies which must disappear from the face of the earth.

You wonder why they say war is hell? Because it is.

[NorCoGOP]

Congress cannot declare war on individuals, or on groups of individuals

Yes they can, and yes they have in the past...the 4th Congress declared war on the Barbary Pirates - an autonomous group.

[salbam]

actually not true. under our third president, thomas jefferson, congress declared war against the barbarry pirates, a group of individuals. it does not have to be a state.

[Hail Caesar]

Wait a minute! This from the same William Bennett - former cabinet secretary and "Drug Czar" whose "War on Drugs" continues to cost the lives of several innocent people while suppressing the civil rights, civil liberties and gun rights of all American citizens!!

It this another thinly-veiled way to psychologically prepare us to give up even more of our 2nd Amendement rights and civil liberties for the safety and security that our government has dramatically FAILED to provide us with in exchange?!?

[eborys]

The reason gun control failed... We didn't include registration of knives.

[piasa]

Funded by Iraq and with a base in Afghanistan.

[SlickWillard]

Yes they can, and yes they have in the past...the 4th Congress declared war on the Barbary Pirates - an autonomous group.

As far as I can tell, Congress declared war on the city-state of Tripoli:

Tripolitan War (1801-1805), conflict between the United States and the North African state of Tripoli (now in Libya). For centuries the Muslim corsairs of North Africa either had preyed on the shipping of Christian nations or demanded tribute. The U.S. had been paying tribute since 1784, but refused to agree to an increase demanded by the pasha of Tripoli in 1801. As a result, the Tripolitans began seizing American ships, and in 1803 a U.S. naval squadron was sent to blockade the port of Tripoli. When the U.S. frigate Philadelphia was captured and taken into the harbor in February 1804, a small group of men under Lieutenant Stephen Decatur managed to reach it in a daring night raid and burn it to prevent the corsairs from using it. The war ended in 1805, when Captain William Eaton led 500 men across the desert from Alexandria and captured the Tripolitan town of Darnah. The pasha agreed to make peace, abandoning his demands for tribute but exacting a ransom of $60,000 for freeing American captives. A sequel to the Tripolitan War was the U.S. expedition against the corsairs of Algiers in 1815.

I spent a fair amount of time at the web site of the National Archives, trying to find the text of the declaration, but that web site is worthless.

[gfactor]

The sad and ugly fact of the matter is that Congress must declare war on Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Don't make me laugh. You forgot one thing -- the US heavily funded the creation of the terror network Bin Laden now heads. If it turns out he was involved, should we declare war on America too? or are we going to only attack countries full of brown people?

[SlickWillard]

are we going to only attack countries full of brown people?

We declare war on the countries that issued the passports of the hijackers. If that means we declare war on countries we had thought were our allies, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, then so be it.

War is hell because it is.

[Spiff]

It is absolutely necessary, for the preservation of our Constitutional Republic, that Congress must DECLARE WAR!

War has already been declared against our nation - it is called a Jihad. Attacks far worse than Pearl Harbor have been made against our country. Congress declared war when Pearl Harbor was attacked and they must DECLARE WAR because of these opening attacks of the THIRD WORLD WAR.

The recent milquetoast mindset and spinelessness of the House and Senate is, hopefully, a thing of the past. They need to find the courage and resolve to put their names to an OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF WAR against the terrorists who committed this atrocity, those who financed, harbored, and supported them, and their allies.

Acting under the unconstitutional War Powers Act or prosecuting a war with only the authorized "funding" from Congress is not enough. It needs to be official - it needs to be a DECLARATION OF WAR. Call your Congressman and Senators. Let's do it right this time.

[SlickWillard]

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[Non-Sequitur]

I think that we need to take a long hard look at this and the Constitution. The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility for declaring war. What about ending it? The Constitution is silent on this. What if the President doesn't want to or the terrorists won't? This could be never ending and become the forever war. Are we granting this president and all future presidents carte blanche to do what they want to any country they want all under the name of the war on terrorism? Send troops anywhere, bomb anyone, all in the name of fighting terrorism? Do we want to do that?

Clinton didn't need a declaration of war to send troops to the Balkans. Bush senior didn't need a declararion of war for the Gulf or Panama. Reagan didn't need a declaration of war for Grenada and President Bush doesn't need a declaration of war now in order to do what must be done to strike the people responsible for this act of terrorism. Don't grant him something he doesn't need and which could be abused in the future.

[AntiTyrant]

hc, when i saw the title of the post you pinged me on, i was ready to read even more ultra right wing dogma, all dressed up to appear as if it's not the same tripe the terrorists are feeding to the masses on their side. very happy to see that's not the case, and i think you have nailed the worst part of this whole situation. as with every major 'war' this country's seen, the biggest threat will be to the liberty within our borders, at the hands of our own government. we must not let the power grabbers succeed in killing what's left of the gift won at great cost in the late 1700's by our founders.

[The_Reader_David]

There is precedent: during the Hundred Days, the nations of Europe declared war on Napoleon, not on France.

[KC Burke]

We declare war on the countries that issued the passports of the hijackers

Hi ol' buddy.

Article I, Sec 8 gives Congress the power: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;. This isn't limited to a power against Nations but is instead an extension of our might and soverign interest and can be crafted in any manner the Congress determines.

I believe we should declare war on Jihadic Terrorism and All Nations and Groups which harbor, aid and abet such activities. We should do this soon because we want to punish and deter the Guilty and not just the Involved.

What would we do if the Taliban, Jihadic Organizations in Iran, Irag and elsewhere turn over Bin Laden? Try him in a tribunal, elevating him to martyrdom, and give the groups that fostered, raised, promoted, financed and empowered him a free pass?

No.

We need to, in some ways, set Bin Laden aside, and punish all the guilty, not just the involved. This is the only effective deterent.

The Jihadic Forces can raise up a hundred more just like him. The Taliban must be destroyed and disperesed to show what happens to those who harbor, promote and utilize such individuals and organizations. The sponsoring Jihadic Forces, of which Bin Laden is but a Committee Head, must be relentlessly pursued and where found, destroyed along with those that harbor them. Then, and only then, will the climate and will to advance a social, religious and political war in this manner be detered.

Say it loud and often: War on all the Guilty, not just the Involved.

[KC Burke]

see 15

[KC Burke]

Limited, responsive powers, granted the President under the War Powers Act, will result in only Bin Laden, and perhaps a few base camps destroyed before the limited powers there run out. Congress should do their duty and Craft the Legislation needed. It is there job to both create and limit such a declaration; they did so in Desert Storm, they can do it here.

The Congress, our first branch, is weak this last century because they have defered their job. Action and Exercise will strengthen, not weaken, our structure. See #15 for my thoughts as to why we need to root out the Guilty, not just the Involved.

[ctdonath2]

I was just looking up the "Letters of Marque" section.

The Letters Of Marque are granted by Congress because the actions, practically speaking, involve the USA attacking another country...it's just that Congress lets private citizens perform the action instead of a formal military. Applying this Constitutional principle means that Osama Bin Laden's assault on the USA constitutes an act of war by Afghanistan (who protected him while knowing his intentions & actions). We must play the war game by OUR rules, and our rules say an act of war by members of a country are an act of war by that country.

[SlickWillard]

Osama Bin Laden's assault on the USA constitutes an act of war by Afghanistan

All the evidence I've seen indicates that the attacks of Tuesday, September 11, were made by citizens of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden is a citizen of Saudi Arabia. His father was a Saudi Arabian captain of industry, and his family fortune is Saudi Arabian. I have read unsourced, unattributed accounts that indicate that Bin Laden was in close contact with the recently released head of Saudi Arabian security. We have all seen, or read about, the citizens of Egypt cheering the attacks.

As sad as it is to admit, it appears that these attacks were not made by those we consider to be the usual suspects, namely the governments (or citizens) of Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Iran. Rather, all indications are that these attacks were made by the people of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

[KC Burke]

In addition and extension of your comments at 19 you must acknowledge that Bin Lauden was an Offical Appointee of the Taliban and the Taliban represents itself as the Government of Afganistan, where it is certainly in defacto control of much of the geographic area. This fact allows for the Taliban to be named.