Usa Thread

[Flashermac]

Can Obama wage war without consent of Congress?

 

 

...

 

The White House says Bush-era congressional authorizations for the war on al-Qaida and the Iraq invasion give Obama the authority to expand the fighting in Syria and Iraq without new approval by Congress under the 1973 War Powers Act. That law, passed at the height of the Vietnam War, serves as a constitutional check on the president's power to declare war without congressional consent. It requires presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and limits the use of military forces to no more than 60 days unless Congress authorizes force or declares war.

 

The administration's tightly crafted legal strategy has short-circuited the congressional oversight that Obama once championed. The White House's use of old authorizations as grounds for the growing air war has generated a chorus of criticism that the justifications are, at best, a legal stretch.

 

...

 

 

 

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/can-obama-wage-war-without-consent-of-congress-1.302687#.VBNr7e1jkdc.facebook

[Steve]

Obama is a constitutional lawyer. He'll find one. Its a TERRIBLE precedent to have. The Republicans are probably at odds about it because THEY will do the same when they are in the White House and trust me, they'll be in FAR, FAR more wars. Just to illustrate what I said about the right's strategy is NOT to work with him on anything, is that they WANT to be in a war...just not Obama's war so he can get credit if it goes well. Rest assured, it won't. At least not initially. There is always a learning curve with tackling any new enemy. Sometimes it comes off quickly and without a hitch (first gulf war) and oftentimes it doesn't. (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Korean War.Vietnam).

[Steve]

I agree 100%

 

 

We likely differ on whom does NOT want to integrate.

[Flashermac]

Hanoi always had the winning strategy, since it strategy was simply to wait out the US government, which depended on popular support. (Hanoi didn't.) They didn't have to defeat the American military, just make sure they were not clearly defeated themselves. Le Duc Tho realised that the US interest in South Vietnam was not all that deep, so all they had to do was hang on and wait. I have an interview with Nguyen Van Giap somewhere at home (from Newsweek maybe) in which he was asked point blank if at any time Hanoi considered ending the war as too costly. Giap said yes they had, several times. "But the anti-war movement in American always gave us the strength to go on." By early 1973, Nixon's government was willing to accept terms or a "cease fire" that virtually guaranteed South Vietnam would not survive. Hanoi waited about 2 years, building up its forces, then launched the Blitzkrieg that overran the South, as the US sat on the sidelines and did nothing.

 

That is what led to the "Powell Doctrine", which stated that the US should never get into another war unless it meant to finish it.

 

<< The Powell Doctrine states that a list of questions all have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United States:

 

- Is a vital national security interest threatened?

- Do we have a clear attainable objective?

- Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?

- Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?

- Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?

- Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?

- Is the action supported by the American people?

- Do we have genuine broad international support?

 

http://en.wikipedia....Powell_Doctrine

 

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it is followed any more.

[Flashermac]

Polygamist women dressed 'like ninjas' attack home of witness in Utah sex assault case

 

 

Two armed “polygamist women†dressed like “ninjas†were subdued by a sword-wielding man during a home invasion, according to police in suburban Utah.

 

Police said the two women, aged 18 and 22, were attacking the home of a witness and victim in a criminal child sex assault case against a man the women called their “husbandâ€.

 

The women “violently attacked one of the adult males in the house who came to see who was coming,†Ian Adams of the West Jordan police department told the Guardian.

 

“Another adult male joined the fray in defense of the first male victim. He was armed with a sword, and using a sword … and with the other male [was] able to subdue the two women until police arrived and took them into custody.â€

 

The attack took place just before 4am on Friday. The child witness was home but was not involved in the incident, Adams said.

 

The two women are in custody at Salt Lake County Jail. Neither their names nor mugshots, nor the name of the “husbandâ€, are being released, because to do so could identify the child victim.

 

Adams said: “They’re all related.â€

 

Another officer with West Jordan police said the sex assault complaint was against the victim’s uncle.

 

Two women clad in ninja costumes, armed with knives and stun guns, forced their way through the door. The family believes they were there to abduct a 15-year-old girl inside.

 

One of the men who subdued the women was interviewed by the local Fox 13 new station. “I went to the bottom of the stairs and saw a couple of ninjas coming down,†the man was quoted as saying. “They were all dark gray or black, and they had black rubber gloves on and masks. All I could see was their eyes.â€

 

The women are both charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and witness tampering, all felonies. After the attack, Adams said, “the two female suspects claimed to be the wives of the male who’s sitting in custody on the child sex offensesâ€.

 

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career,†said Adams. “I have a feeling that as this investigation progresses we’ll have more details. It’s still kind of fresh.â€

 

Adams said he could not provide any further information about the type of sword that had been used to subdue the women.

 

West Jordan is a suburb of Salt Lake City, and is home to about 110,000 people, according to the US Census Bureau.

 

Plural marriage was practised in Utah by members of the Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, until the 1890s, when it was rejected by the church and banned by the state.

 

In August, an appeals court in Utah partially lifted the ban, allowing a man and a woman to marry and live with others they consider “spousesâ€, after a lawsuit by stars of the cable network show Sister Wives.

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/20/polygamist-women-utah-sex-assault-case

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"Two armed “polygamist women” dressed like “ninjas” were subdued by a sword-wielding man during a home invasion"

 

You can't make this shit up

 

Sanuk!

[Flashermac]

Utah is sort of different.

[Steve]

America as a whole is like that. NOTHING is shocking from the funny bizarre to the deeply disturbing bizarre. It comes with the territory of being a nation made up of the world basically. You get the good with the bad. Problem is getting more and more bizarre in the bad side of the equation.

[Flashermac]

True words.

[cavanami]

...and the wars and fighting continues...another Nobel prize is awaiting...

 

 

 

 

Obama Ignores Congress Again to Launch Syria Attack With No Legal Basis

 

President commits impeachable offense

 

http://www.infowars.com/obama-ignores-congress-again-to-launch-syria-attack-with-no-legal-basis/

 

President Barack Obama has once again flagrantly violated the U.S. constitution by launching air strikes on Syrian territory under the justification of an illegal framework and with no Congressional input whatsoever.

 

In a move that threatens to enflame the entire region, Washington launched a wave of Tomahawk cruise missile attacks against ISIS targets late last night.

Early reports indicate that eight civilians, including three children, were killed during an aerial bombardment on the city of Raqqa.

 

Despite the administration enjoying widespread support for its military campaign against ISIS, with

nearly two thirds of Americans advocating air strikes within Syrian territory, suspicions are rife that Washington will subsequently turn its weapons against the Assad regime, which it has been trying to overthrow for more than two years.

 

Whatever the necessity and justification of the campaign against ISIS, Obama’s decision to once again ignore Congress, just as he did before the ultimately disastrous attack on Libya, reinforces the precedent of the White House launching military action with absolutely no legal foundation whatsoever.

 

Shortly after reports of U.S. air strikes on Syria emerged, Congressman Justin Amash also summed up the feelings of some lawmakers to Congressional leaders’ failure to engage in a vigorous debate about the new conflict.