Posted by Adam on September 13, 2001, at 11:19:55
In reply to Re: two wrongs... » Adam, posted by Elizabeth on September 12, 2001, at 20:31:34
OK, my memory is REALLY bad.
The War Powers Act _was_ an answer to executive largess in Vietnam, and it does put some severe limitations, at least in principle, on what the President can do with the armed forces as Commander In Chief. I guess, according to the Act, the president is only directly authorized to commit the military in "war" when the country has been attacked, and then only for 60 days max, before further authorization from Congress is obtained by vote.
You would think I would remember more about this. At the time I took the class on Vietnam, it was during the Gulf War, and I was living in the Republic of Ireland...probably the safest place I could be at that time. The Act came up quite a bit, and was entirely apropos to current events. I think I may have killed a few too many brain cells in the pub while there.
I do remember my prof. being pretty rankled by the Gulf War. He had a good grasp of the history, and laid out in pretty stark terms how Saddam was once our guy, and how we armed and supported him, knowing full well what a genocidal nut case he was, because it was strategically convenient (warring with Iran, our then Enemy #1, etc.) I can't stress enough how left-leaning the prof. was though (an American, visiting Ireland like me, who had lived in Canada and Japan for ten years because he dodged the draft, making him an exile until Carter granted amnesty). He had huge scars on his right arm from a police dog that mauled him during a demonstration. He was pretty hard core.
Anway, as much as a "flaming liberal" as this guy was, he had his facts straight, if not always his interpretations. The power-politics of the US is a pretty sad tale in iteself, and surveying the history of Vietnam, from our support of Ho Chi Minh to expel the Japanese, through our rejection of him to back a colonialist power (France) after the war, to our eventual adoption of their role following the defeat at Dien Ben Phu (think I spelled that right)...it's like watching a devastating train wreck unfold in slow motion.
As for "making love" and so on... I think bin Laden has earned himself a few hundred consecutive life sentances, and even if he had nothing to do with the recent attacks (unlikely), prosecuting him would be a worthy cause. Going to war with Afghanistan to get at him, though...that's a lot more dicey, and I hope like hell the US doesn't do something that stupid. Tracking the perps down, bringing them to court, prosecuting them, that's the way to go. Best of all, we should really work the international coalition angle to put pressure on the governments who harbor these criminals to turn them over themselves, or allow UN forces to go get them without interferance. I really hope we take that route. Compelling the heads of these nations to follow international law, and giving them due credit when they do, that's the best possible way. Constant diplopatic engagement and pressure to stop lending support or giving safe harbor to terrorists, that's the future preventative course that will best serve us in the end, I think.
I'm not sure there is much popular support for such a protracted and focused campaign, though. That's what concerns me. Those calling the shots are hawkish enough, and the general population seems angry enough, to support some major military efforts, perhaps in multiple states, to punish those countries and their citizens. If we do that, we lose the moral high ground, and harden the resolve of the terrorists to strike again. We make lots of new ones in th process, too. We'll never be safe.
No, I sure as heck don't want to see those responsible go unprosecuted. Some people really do deserve to be punished, and punished severely, for this, if they are still alive. I just think we should be restrained in our action, and remember it's not like the USA hasn't done some pretty terrible things in the name of national interest even in the recent past. We can't assume moral superiority to anyone as a country, but we can behave very morally, with equanimity, and that course will always make our future brighter than it could very easily be.
poster:Adam
thread:11152
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010909/msgs/11303.html