Hawks Push for Iraq War: The Rule of Law Prevents It

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/kevin-zeese/56405/hawks-push-for-iraq-war-the-rule-of-law-prevents-it

Hawks Push for Iraq War: The Rule of Law Prevents It
by Kevin Zeese | June 15, 2014 - 6:49am

The same people who got the US into the mistaken Iraq War are now urging President Obama to use military force in Iraq again. Republican hawks are using the violence in Iraq as a political tool that is escalating pressure for US military intervention. But, if the US follows the rule of law — both US and international law — the president does not have the authority to attack Iraq without Congressional and UN authorization.

John McMain went roaring onto the Senate floor “calling on the entire Obama administration national security team to resign.” McCain urged immediate action saying “Every hour the options become fewer and fewer as ISIS, the most radical terrorist group alive, sweeps across Iraq.” On the House side, John Boehner mocked: ““What’s the president doing? Taking a nap?”

~snip~

Cirincione argues, in my view correctly, that renewing the war in Iraq would be another foreign policy blunder. The chaos in Iraq now was a predictable result of US military intervention and the US cannot correct this mistake with more war and violence. The United States has made a terrible mess out of Iraq. While we need to figure out how to make up for destroying the country, we also need to avoid any US military in Iraq which will make things worse.

Interventionists in Washington, DC are urging President Obama to use military force and claim he has the authority to do so. Steven T. Dennis wrote in the inside-the-beltway CQ News “President Barack Obama has the authority to wage war in Iraq without going to Congress, because the original use of force authorization remains in effect.” At a press conference on June 12, President Obama seemed to indicate he was open to that position saying he was “not ruling anything out” in Iraq. Later his press secretary clarified that Obama was only talking about aerial strikes, not troops on the ground. A day later, President Obama clarified further saying the US “is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they’re prepared to work together.”