On 12/16/2011 9:09 AM, Han wrote:
wrote in :

On 12/15/2011 4:02 PM, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In ,
wrote:


I hope that is an over-simplification. What you are saying pertains
to the "customary laws of war" but since when can the President
declare war and since when are we at war with our own citizens? As
far as I know, the last time we were at war (per the Constitution)
was in 1945 prior to the Japanese surrender.

Nope we are at war currently, per the Constitution. The C also says
that Congress gets to enact laws as they see fit to carry out their
responsibilities under the C. The War Powers Act certainly fits that
bill. There is nothing in the C (unfortunately in many cases) that
say they have to call a spade, a spade.


No. The War Powers Resolution (known colloquially as the War Powers
Act) restricts the war powers of the President. It does not serve to
amend the Constitutionally stipulated way by which this country
formally declares itself to be at war. We are at war only if the
Congress pass a bill that formally declares war and the President
signs it. That has not happened since 1941 after Pearl Harbor. I am
not denying that the country has engaged in military combat on foreign
territory since that time, I'm merely saying that per the C, we are
not at war at this time, except against irrational thinking (and I
fear we are losing).

But, but, but, Nixon "declared" war against cancer way back when, and we
are only slowly winning a few battles here and there. That war isn't
over by a long shot.

Nonsense aside, we are at war in Afghanistan, and despite the declaration
that war in Iraq is over, there are still servicemen there, and not just
scratching their backsides.

And, last but not least, we are at war at home against all kinds of bad
people - terrorists (unspecified), gun, narcotics and human smugglers,
politicians we don't like, etc, etc.

War is just a word, subject to interpretation, and the Constitution is
something that politicians like to violate, in words and deeds.
/rant

Han, I normally agree with your comments. Please recognize that in my
comments I've been referring to "war" in the formal, legal definition in
accordance with the text of the Constitution, and not in the more
colloquial sense in which the word has come to be used. I agree that
our military action in Afghanistan is a de facto war, but it not a de
jure war.