{"id":21340,"date":"2013-08-31T08:14:41","date_gmt":"2013-08-31T16:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=21340"},"modified":"2013-08-31T17:17:57","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T01:17:57","slug":"impeachment-congress-fires-opening-shot-across-obamas-bow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/31\/impeachment-congress-fires-opening-shot-across-obamas-bow\/","title":{"rendered":"Impeachment: Congress Fires Opening Shot Across Obama\u2019s Bow."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMr. President, in the case of military operations in Libya you stated that authorization from Congress was not required because our military was not engaged in \u201chostilities.\u201d In addition, an April 1, 2011, memorandum to you from your Office of Legal Counsel concluded:\u2026\u201dPresident Obama could rely on his constitutional power to safeguard the national interest by directing the anticipated military operations in Libya\u2014which were limited in their nature, scope, and duration\u2014without prior congressional authorization.\u2019\u201d
\n\u201cWe view the precedent this opinion sets, where \u201cnational interest\u201d is enough to engage in hostilities without congressional authorization, as unconstitutional.<\/strong>\u201d<\/em>
\nText from letter of Rep. Scott Rigell (R, VA) to Pres. Obama
\nSigned by 140 Reps, including 21 Democrats<\/p>\n

The letter of Scott Rigell<\/a> (1) to Barak Obama has exploded on the scene with its opening words:
\n\u201cWe strongly urge you to consult and receive authorization from Congress before ordering the use of U.S. military force in Syria. Your responsibility to do so is prescribed in the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
\n\u201cWhile the Founders wisely gave the Office of the President the authority to act in emergencies, they foresaw the need to ensure public debate \u2013 and the active engagement of Congress \u2013 prior to committing U.S. military assets. Engaging our military in Syria when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers that is clearly delineated in the Constitution.\u201d<\/em>
\nWith these perhaps historic words the Congress has begun to claw back its Constitutional right to decide issues of war and peace. Significantly the letter comes from a Republican lawmaker, and it is clearly a tribute to the leadership of the libertarians in the Republican Party, most notably Ron Paul, Justin Amash and Rand Paul.<\/p>\n

But the situation is grave enough, possibly leading on to a World War, that 21 Democrats have challenged the President and their Party bosses to sign the statement. They are moving beyond partisanship as Ron Paul did in challenging George W. Bush on the war on Iraq.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If that were all that the letter said, it would be momentous enough. But the statement goes further and labels Obama\u2019s cruel war on Libya as \u201cunconstitutional,\u201d because it was done without so much as a nod to Congress. In the end no lawyer and no court, not even the Supreme Court, can overrule Congress when it decides what to do when it considers a serious presidential action as \u201cunconstitutional.\u201d In Libya Obama usurped the powers of Congress. If Congress takes the next step and determines that such an action rises to the level of \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanors,\u201d then it is an impeachable offense.<\/p>\n

It is not hard to see the implications of the warning to Obama that the Representatives are issuing in raising Libya. If Obama attacks Syria, that will be the second offense, greatly strengthening the case for impeachment.<\/p>\n

The implied threat of impeachment is of utmost importance because the President, long become an Emperor, will heed no warning unless it is backed by threat of punishment.<\/p>\n

So far so good. But unfortunately Rep. Barbara Lee did not sign Rigell\u2019s letter but instead drafted another<\/a> and circulated it (2). Crucially this letter carried no mention of the Libyan war and the violation of the Constitution it represented<\/em>. It garnered an additional 22 signatures, all Democrats, over and above those who signed onto Rigell\u2019s letter. (At least one Republican Congressman\u2019s office stated that they received no Dear Colleague letter from Lee on her letter so perhaps it went only to Dems.) This is very disturbing since back in the day of the Iraq war, Barbara Lee led resistance to Bush and backed John Conyers\u2019s promise of a impeachment hearings for Bush in 2006, a promise Conyers promptly broke on getting re-elected. Now in the age of Obama, is Lee changing from an opponent of war into a partisan hack? This writer contacted Lee\u2019s Washington and California offices seeking clarification. But the staff was unwilling to comment and the communications staffer did not return either an email or phone call.<\/p>\n

In one way Obama\u2019s assault on Libya and now on Syria is worse than George W. Bush\u2019s war on Iraq. Bush at least took the time to lie to Congress. But such a lie to Congress is an indictable offense, and the lie is easily demonstrable if Congress marshals the likes of a Watergate hearing. So an impeachment move against Obama is also an opening for a move to indict Bush. And perhaps the unconstitutional assaults of Clinton on Sudan and Yugoslavia will be revisited. One can only hope.<\/p>\n

It is time for all antiwarriors to champion the idea of impeachment and push for it now. The slogan might well be, \u201cImpeach Obama. Indict Bush.\u201d It will not happen unless we demand it. And if we do not, we are acquiescing to endless war and possible disaster for the world.<\/p>\n

John V. Walsh can be reached at John.Endwar@gmail.com
\nHe is a founding member of ComeHomeAmerica<\/a> (www.ComeHomeAmerica.US). The CHA statement of opposition to the Syrian intervention can be seen at the web site just cited.<\/p>\n

(1) http:\/\/rigell.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=347024
\n(2) http:\/\/lee.house.gov\/sites\/lee.house.gov\/files\/Lee%20Letter%20to%20President%20Obama_Syria.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMr. President, in the case of military operations in Libya you stated that authorization from Congress was not required because our military was not engaged in \u201chostilities.\u201d In addition, an April 1, 2011, memorandum to you from your Office of Legal Counsel concluded:\u2026\u201dPresident Obama could rely on his constitutional power to safeguard the national interest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-21340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21340"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21365,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340\/revisions\/21365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21340"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}