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[Adventurer]

March 24, 2007
Fooled Again

by Gordon Prather
Past and present Congresspersons from across the political spectrum insist that if they had known then, what they know now, they would never have allowed President Bush to use the conditional authority they had provided him to launch a pre-emptive war against Iraq.

Of course, they should have known when they gave him that authority in October, 2002 that their basic presumption �

"Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations"

was false.

Should have known, because in the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, the International Atomic Energy Agency Action Team on Iraq was established by UN Security Council Resolution 687 and was charged with overseeing the destruction [or removal from Iraq] of all nuclear-weapons-usable materials, components and subsystems, plus any and all related research, development, support or manufacturing facilities.

In what amounted to his final report as Director-General, Hans Blix concluded way back in 1997 that;

"Most of the IAEA activities involving the destruction, removal and rendering harmless of the components of Iraq's nuclear weapons programme, which to date have been revealed and destroyed, were completed by the end of 1992."

Of course, when Bush got Congress to give him that conditional authority to use force, he assured them he was committed to seeking a diplomatic solution. He got the UN Security Council to pass Resolution 1441, which required Iraq to provide the IAEA and other UN inspectors "immediate, unimpeded, unconditional and unrestricted access" to any and all "areas, facilities, buildings, equipment, records and means of transport," as well as "private access" to all pertinent officials.

Well, we all certainly had a close call. If Congresspersons hadn't made their authorization conditional, namely �

"In connection with the exercise of the authority � to use force, the President shall � make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that � reliance � on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq,"

then Bush could have ignored the null reports of ElBaradei and Blix, could have defied the UN Security Council and the UN Charter, could have launched a pre-emptive war of aggression against Iraq.

But Congress had made his authority conditional, and the Congressional conditions had clearly not been met. Hence, Bush hadn't been authorized by Congress to use US Armed Forces against Iraq.

[Is this true? If so, then both branches are guilty? What's your take on this? I really didn't know the details about Congress's conditions. I personally think there are grounds for impeachment, not that it should be pursued. Nixon did far less harm to America's institutions, and I think he was a much better president.

http://www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=10717