Cliff LyonDiscussion of Impeachable Offenses are Everywhere
I’ve run out of time to do a post tonight, so I thought I would use this opportunity to remind everyone that this Saturday marks the 3rd anniversary of the war in Iraq. Events are being planned all over the country including Salt Lake City.
In addition to a peaceful rally in Washington Square there will be a distinguished panel in the evening at Westminster College discussing the legal issues surrounding the conduct and reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Feel free to print out flyers and post them around. I will be moderating the discussion.
As much as such panel discussions seem biased to many, they are not. Any real American should want to be very clear on the legal issues. Regardless of your political leaning, no one can call themselves a patriot and at the same time dismiss infractions of law and The Constitution.
Many recent discussions are available online. I recommend these:
Harper’s Magazine Panel on Case Bush Impeachment
Or try here if that doesn’t work
March 13th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Seeing that the Congress and the President all signed off on the war, I can’t see how you can question the legality of the war itself. Unless you are making the argument that the Constitution does not allow the Congress and the President to make war. You could argue that a war was never officially declared, but the Constitution only states that the Congress has the power to declare war. It does not enumerate exactly how the Congress goes about doing that. The resolutions passed authorizing the President to conduct the war should be enough to satisfy that provision.
Some say that the war is against International law. Well for one thing if International and our Constitutional law are ever in conflict, our Constitution trumps it every time. Unless of course you are Ruth Bader Ginsburg then International law is supreme and can even be used to rule on Constitutional questions, but even if you are to argue the International legality of the war the United States and its allies were simply enforcing scores of UN resolutions that were being flatly ignored by Saddam Hussein. Remember the original Gulf War? Saddam agreed under certain terms that if he obeyed we would stop the fighting. He did not obey so really this war is about enforcing the agreement we made during the first. We didn’t need any UN approval at all for invading Iraq because we had already received UN approval during the first Gulf War.
March 13th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
You should at least have invited a token conservative to speak at your meeting. I would love to go, but I have to work on Saturdays now. I will see what I can do.
March 14th, 2006 at 5:16 am
Ken, the organizers considered holding a debate, but decided instead to have the presentation be informational and educational instead on the side of the illegality.
One of the panelists spent his entire sabbatical researching all the laws that were broken by the Bush Administration by invading Iraq. He will present his findings substantiated by research. The other panelists will be just as informational. This should be a great event. I hope you can take off work so you can be able to participate in the Q & A session.
Deanna