How Come War Wasn Officially Declared By Congress For The Current Iraq/Afghanistan Conflict?
Hi Melissa: Congress didn’t declare any actions because both times it granted authority to the office of the Executive to pursue both wars at his own ends. We all know how well Bush did on both, so I won’t bore you with his disasters overseas. Congress has the power to declare war, but in giving the President the authority to pursue war without having war declared they allowed him to enter into a legal loophole whereby he can pursue war by any means necessary since his actions are “in the interest of the United States of America.” In other words, war is declared with a definitive goal, an identifiable enemy, and a national agenda warped to fit wartime production and needs. Our system of government didn’t need to declare war to have military actions directed overseas; and the fact that these aren’t “wars” means our players have loopholes filled with nuances which say “combatants” and “POWs” are not the same and the like. They can fight a war without being held to its legal rules. And ye
