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The constitution requires a declaration of war. That requirement has been withered away in recent years, don't you think? It was there to prevent exactly this s

by maratd 13y ago

The constitution requires a declaration of war. That requirement has been withered away in recent years, don't you think? It was there to prevent exactly this sort of nonsense.

chad_oliver 13y ago
To be fair, a large part of why America doesn't declare war is because no-one declares war. After WWII we no longer consider war-making a sovereign right of nations, so a declaration of war is useless.
rayiner 13y ago
Article I, Section 8 says that Congress has the power to declare war. It does not specify that this declaration need take any particular form. I've never seen a convincing explanation for why Congressional authorization such as the AUMF doesn't qualify as an exercise of Congress's powers under Article I, Section 8. Especially considering that the practice of Congress authorizing military actions without a formal declaration of war dates back almost to the founding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States#Military_engagements_authorized_by_Congress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_Unite....
dragonwriter 13y ago
> The constitution requires a declaration of war. First, no, it doesn't. It gives Congress the power to declare war. It neither explicitly requires nor has ever been understood to implicitly require a war be declared to be prosecuted in all circumstance, particularly not in the event of a war initiated by an enemy attack. Second, as with every other Congressional power, exercising the power to declare war doesn't require any kind of magic words. All of the controversial drone attacks on al-Qaeda targets have been as part of action specifically authorized by Congress in Public Law 107-40 [1]. Whatever problems there are with the War on Terrorism, the absence of Congressional declaration of war certainly isn't one of them. [1] http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/pdf/PLAW-107publ40.pdf http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/pdf/PLAW-107publ...

by maratd 13y ago

The constitution requires a declaration of war. That requirement has been withered away in recent years, don't you think? It was there to prevent exactly this sort of nonsense.

chad_oliver 13y ago

To be fair, a large part of why America doesn't declare war is because no-one declares war. After WWII we no longer consider war-making a sovereign right of nations, so a declaration of war is useless.

rayiner 13y ago

Article I, Section 8 says that Congress has the power to declare war. It does not specify that this declaration need take any particular form. I've never seen a convincing explanation for why Congressional authorization such as the AUMF doesn't qualify as an exercise of Congress's powers under Article I, Section 8. Especially considering that the practice of Congress authorizing military actions without a formal declaration of war dates back almost to the founding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States#Military_engagements_authorized_by_Congress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_Unite....

dragonwriter 13y ago

> The constitution requires a declaration of war. First, no, it doesn't. It gives Congress the power to declare war. It neither explicitly requires nor has ever been understood to implicitly require a war be declared to be prosecuted in all circumstance, particularly not in the event of a war initiated by an enemy attack. Second, as with every other Congressional power, exercising the power to declare war doesn't require any kind of magic words. All of the controversial drone attacks on al-Qaeda targets have been as part of action specifically authorized by Congress in Public Law 107-40 [1]. Whatever problems there are with the War on Terrorism, the absence of Congressional declaration of war certainly isn't one of them. [1] http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/pdf/PLAW-107publ40.pdf http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/pdf/PLAW-107publ...