Critical Questioning of What is Truly Going on in Iraq: When is War War?

As I watch the media and listen to discussions amongst people about the war in Iraq. From the beginning, after the 9/11 disaster, there has been one question that has not been asked. Is America at war with Iraq? I know that some may say that this quest ion is self-evident due to the fact the US president, Congress, and the Media have been calling it a war from the outset. There is a signed Congressional resolution after all. But I always say that a hundred people going in one direction does not make it any more the correct direction. Nor does everyone defining what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan for that manner a war a war. I have even asked this question to a Representative and his response was simply, that the president says it's a war then it is a war. That just made my head ache even more. It reminded me of a CBS interview of President Clinton prior to the beginning of the Millennium. The interviewer asked when is the Millennium actually when the clock at Naval Observatory says that the Millennium actually begun 2001, not 2000. Mr. Clinton responded by saying that the American people says and believes that the Millennium starts 2000, so it does. That's an amazing statement that has no rational or logic just as saying the war in Iraq is a war simply because the president, or anyone else, says it's so. Either it is or it isn't.

First let's look at what we do have. We do have a signed Congressional Resolution authorizing the president of the United States to use of force. A resolution is defined as, "a formal statement of opinion or determination adopted by an assembly or other formal group." Is this what the children of America are dying for, a statement of opinion? The Founders made it clear that only the Congress has the power to declare war in Article 1, Section 8. To declare anything is to "make clearly known; state or announce openly, formally." One thing can be said of this situation over the "war" is that nothing is clearly known of the reason that American children are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since receiving the resolution by Congress to use military force during the heightened emotional times after the disaster of September 11, 2001 the president of the United States has assumed the position King, no longer answerable to people's representatives in Congress nor the people directly. Mr. Bush has forcibly interjected the US military into two sovereign nations without proven provocation with no obvious plan of extrication or end to the occupation at a unsustainable cost, both in lives, American credibility, and financial cost to the United States taxpayers. Also his actions have arguably placed a giant bull's eye on America for those who were not our enemy, now are our enemy. Interestingly, no one has said that the invasion was due to any Constitutional breach, offense, or threat. It has always been the breach of a United Nation's Resolution for invading Iraq.

The Founders clearly wanted the power to declare war to stay in the hands of the Congress and not the president as represented in the Federalist Papers, "The President will only occasionally command the militia[military], only after the Congress has called it into the actual service of the nation by legislative provision." ~Federalist #69. They understood that to give the president the power to declare war also empowers him to raise and provision armies and place into the hands of one man the authority to determine what constitutes a threat to national security. Federalist #69 argues that such power is equal to that of a king. All constitutional constructs and separations of powers are intended to insure that no one seat in government accumulates the power of a king. "Both the President and the king of Great Britain have the title "commander-in-chief," but the President's power is supposed to be far more limited than the king's. It is nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first general and admiral of the Union." The Founders also understood what may trigger wars, Federalist #4 states, "The safety of the people of America not only depends on their not giving other nations just causes for war but, also, not putting themselves in situations that invite hostility. It need not be observed that pretended and just causes for war exist."
The answer to the question of when is a was not a war is critical today because it relieves use of the burden of questioning what is really going on and why Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan is not war but something else, a military intervention without a declaration of war, a police action. I have always said that once you know the definition of a situation or issue is when things become clearer. To understand that what is going on in Iraq is not a war, no matter how many people call it so, but a act to enforce policy, to enforce United Nation's Resolution, is establish clarity. It is to also understand that children of America and America's integrity and future are at eternal danger.

The definition of war, in the Constitutional sense, is critical to the discussion of what is truly occurring in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan. The Constitution gives the Congress the sole authority to declare war, so not to allow such great power in the hands of one or a few hands. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution states, "The Congress shall have Power ... To declare War ..." I believe that there is a severe misunderstanding or ignorance of what is the difference between what it is to declaration and a resolution. Following the horrific and emotional events of September 11, 2001, the Congress granted President Bush a Resolution to use military force. Mr. Bush has used the Resolution to invade not only Afghanistan, who was supposed to have some connection to the planes crashing into the World Trade Towers, but Iraq as well, who has no proven evidence of 9/11 involvement.

The word war has been used masterfully to stir up emotion and excuse the actions of the president. But declaration and resolution have two greatly different definitions. A resolution is defined as, "a formal statement of opinion or determination adopted by an assembly or other formal group." To declare anything is to "make clearly known; state or announce openly, formally." There has not been a Congressional Declaration of War. There has been a Congressional Resolution and United Nations Resolution given as reasons for the conflicts, though. The misuse of words has been masterful. The military forces are not involved in a war with Iraq nor Afghanistan. But it is very much involved in a police action to enforce UN policy and or Resolution.