Populist Party Newsletter 05-03-07

All the reasons given to justify a preemptive strike against Iraq were wrong.  Congress and the American people were misled.

Support for the war came from various special interests that had agitated for an invasion of Iraq since 1998.  The Iraq Liberation Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton, stated that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was official U.S. policy.  This policy was carried out in 2003.

Congress failed miserably in meeting its crucial obligations as the branch of government charged with deciding whether to declare war.  It wrongly and unconstitutionally transferred this power to the president, and the president did not hesitate to use it.

Although it is clear there was no cause for war, we just marched in.  Our leaders deceived themselves and the public with assurances that the war was righteous and would be over quickly. Their justifications were false, and they failed to grasp even basic facts about the chaotic political and religioushistory of the region.

Congress bears the greater blame for this fiasco.  It reneged on its responsibility to declare or not declare war.  It transferred this decision-making power to the executive branch, and gave open sanction to anything the president did.  In fact the founders diligently tried to prevent the executive from possessing this power, granting it to Congress alone in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.

Today just about everyone acknowledges the war has gone badly, and 70% of the American people want it to end.  Our national defense is weakened, the financial costs continue to drain us, our allies have deserted us, and our enemies are multiplying - not to mention the tragic toll of death and injury suffered by American forces.

Iraq is a mess, and we urgently need a new direction- but our leaders offer only hand wringing and platitudes.  They have no clear-cut ideas to end the suffering and war.  Even the most ardentwar hawks cannot begin to define victory in Iraq.