Does President Have A Blank Check To Wage War ???

Here's the latest from COL Andrew Bacevich:

Yet one particular check-and-balance constitutional proviso now appears exempt from this recurring phenomenon of disregard followed by professions of dismay, embarrassment, and “never again-ism” once the military emergency passes.  I mean, of course, Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, which assigns to Congress the authority “to declare war” and still stands as testimony to the genius of those who drafted it.  There can be no question that the responsibility for deciding when and whether the United States should fight resides with the legislative branch, not the executive, and that this was manifestly the intent of the Framers.

On parchment at least, the division of labor appears straightforward.  The president’s designation as commander-in-chief of the armed forces in no way implies a blanket authorization to employ those forces however he sees fit or anything faintly like it.  Quite the contrary: legitimizing presidential command requires explicit congressional sanction.

Actual practice has evolved into something altogether different.  The portion of Article I, Section 8, cited above has become a dead letter, about as operative as blue laws still on the books in some American cities and towns that purport to regulate Sabbath day activities.  Superseding the written text is an unwritten counterpart that goes something like this: with legislators largely consigned to the status of observers, presidents pretty much wage war whenever, wherever, and however they see fit.  Whether the result qualifies as usurpation or forfeiture is one of those chicken-and-egg questions that’s interesting but practically speaking beside the point.

You can read the rest @
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176124/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich%2C_presidential_wars/

This reminds me of a passage from my book No More Patriots (see http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Patriots-Howard-Uhal-ebook/dp/B00X2SU5Q6/):

I think many of us were disappointed knowing that the wars would go on. The only ray of sunshine was a realization that the military establishment and the mercenary armies would continue to recruit the most violent extremists in America and send them to far off lands where they could no longer cause trouble back home. On the down side, it was clear that our nation would continue to be the world’s largest prisoner of war camp, since we all were prisoners of the military-industrial-information complex which had no intention of ever setting us free.

Since residents of the US now are de facto prisoners of war, under the Geneva Convention our government has an unfulfilled obligation to treat us far better than it has been. It owes us better food, better housing, and better medical care. You can read about those obligations here:

https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/y3gctpw.htm

Or it could just set us free. Good luck with that.

The US financial system and military are two horns of the same devil, one which is being used by the powers that be to enslave the world under corporate rule. The fact that Congress has given the President carte blanche to accomplish that goal is proof positive that it no longer serves the needs of We The People.