Going to War Without Declaring It

Congress has not declared war since WWII.

The Constitution separates the power to go to war. Congress declares it and the President is the Commander-in Chief in waging it.

In outlining the powers of Congress, Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution includes:

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

BTW, the word ‘Marque’ in the Constitution means authorizing one or more private ships to capture enemy vessels.

The founding fathers did not want the wealth and blood of the Nation committed by the decision of a single individual.

It’s clear as vodka that the power to go to war rests solely with the Congress, not the president. However, that power apparently has been one of contention over the years.

So how does a president engage in armed conflict without there being a declaration of war?

Since 1941, the last time Congress declared war, we have been in numerous wars. Korea and Vietnam were instances when the US has gone to war without Congress. In the case of Vietnam Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizing the President to use conventional military force in Southeast Asia. The Korean War never saw a declaration of war nor any specific authorization for it. Technically it was called a police action in support of a United Nations resolution. What Congress did by not declaring war or providing any specific authorization was to set a precedent for our presidents to go to war without it.

After pulling out of Vietnam in 1973, Congress almost immediately passed the War Powers Resolution, requiring the president to notify Congress within 48 hours when troops were sent into harm’s way. That legislation also required presidents to end any foreign military action after 60 days unless Congress had declared war or passed an authorization for the use of military force.

Congress did pass “authorizations” for the two wars against Iraq and the one in Afghanistan.

Many members of Congress, after the withdrawal debacle from Afghanistan in 2021, had second thoughts about the ‘open-ended’ power of the president to deploy our armed forces. However, the Senate just recently voted to not repeal the previously authorized “war on terror” authorization in place since the 911 attacks in 2001. The so-called war on terror gave rise to “The Authorization for Use of Military Force,” a joint resolution of the Congress which became law on September 18, 2001, authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the September 11 attacks.

In reviewing the history of the use of our military in major warring situations we see our Congress not declaring war despite numerous instances of extended military conflicts and involvements.

That brings us to the current war between Russia and Ukraine.

Congress has not declared war on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.

However, in total, over the last year+, Congress has approved more than $133 billion of aid and military assistance to support the Ukrainian government.

The 2023 budget includes an additional $47.3 billion of emergency funding to provide humanitarian, military, and economic assistance to Ukraine.

One can argue that those appropriations constitute a declaration of war for the President to send Ukraine arms and money.

But it’s a “here we go again.” US heavy involvement and intervention in a war that constitutes no inherent threat to the United States. When this has happened previously it made for a wishy-washy, undefined mission for our support. And without a mission – a defined, measurable objective – we don’t know when we have succeeded or failed.

In March of last year in a speech in Poland President Biden called for a regime change in Russia when he said: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” obviously referring to Putin.

The fact that statement was walked back by administration officials almost immediately asserting he didn’t mean what he said. So, if Putin is not the target, the mission, what is?

To date the US has not committed troops to the war in Ukraine, which in itself is setting a precedent for a major arms and financial commitment to a country with no ties to the US or its allies. It’s an unprecedented ‘proxy war.’ It’s overt, not like our covert support of the Afghans against Russia after its invasion there in 1979.

It’s also dangerous as hell. The USA’s commander in chief, brandishing the power to launch one of the world’s two biggest nuclear arsenals, would be out of his mind to consciously announce a goal of dethroning the leader of the world’s other nuclear superpower. But he did it anyway. In return, Putin has threatened to the limited use of nuclear weapons in the conflict – and may seriously consider doing so should the US put troops on the ground there. Now with the support of China, which is exercising its military power in the South China Sea and elsewhere, it would likely make for a real Armageddon if the Chinese invaded Taiwan daring us to do something about it.

Public support of the Ukraine is softening. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research now shows 48% of the American public say they favor the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, with 29% opposed and 22% saying they’re neither in favor nor opposed. In May 2022, less than three months into the war, 60 percent of U.S. adults said they were in favor of sending Ukraine weapons.

It’s time to put the current ‘war party’ in Congress into the history books.

If the US wants to do the right thing and the humanitarian thing, it will work to end the war in Ukraine.

I don’t think that will happen without Congress – which currently will not declare war while heavily supporting one. Our representatives need to start listening to American voters and stop repeating obvious propaganda.

Congress needs to pull the proverbial plug on this war – or we need a Congress that will.

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Have a great and prosperous week.

Hug somebody.

References:

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/12/795661019/how-presidents-wage-war-without-congress

https://www.historyonthenet.com/can-the-president-declare-war-without-congress

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S8-C11-3/ALDE_00013589/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/support-for-ukraine-aid-softens-in-u-s-public-poll-says

SPIDER Bites

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