George Bush keeps saying that he was given authority to attack Iraq by Congress and that he is in sole control of the US military. As you'll see, all this is untrue.
Refer to the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed forces Against Iraq, paragraph 13 and Sec 3. Refer also to the Constitution, Article l, Section 8 and Article ll, Section 2.
These are readily available to read by those of us who are literate, but I'll summarize for the Republicans.
Paragraph 13 makes it clear that attack by Iraq would "justify action by the United States to defend itself." The United States already has the right to defend itself against attack, as does every other country. This paragraph is redundant.
Section 3 merely repeats paragraph 13 and says that the President is authorized to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." You can read through the whole resolution and nowhere is there any authorization for the President to attack Iraq. Read that sentence again, it's important. The only authorization he is given to use military force against Iraq is to defend the United States. Iraq did not attack the United States therefore it was not necessary to use military force to repel an attack that never came.
George Bush is in violation of the very resolution he used as an excuse to attack Iraq.
The Constitutional provisions above make it perfectly clear that the military is the creation of and belongs to Congress. Only Congress has the power to make "rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces." It funds it at its will and only for the purposes it intends, and has absolute control over it and all its actions. The Constitution also makes it very clear that the President is only the Commander in Chief and only of the military "when called into actual service of the United States."
Well, the military has not been called into actual service. The resolution does not call it into service, except to defend against an attack that never happened, and the Constitution has not called it into service by declaring war. It was called into service by George Bush in violation of the resolution and the Constitution. So, he's not, as he claims, commander in chief of anything, neither you and me nor the military.
In summary, all the blathering by George Bush about being authorized to attack Iraq and being in total control of the military is just more Cheney hogwash. Reading the resolution and the Constitution proves his claims to be untrue. I've quoted the relevant passages above, but you can read them for yourselves. They are proof that George Bush is an unmitigated, congenital liar, among other things inappropriate and too extensive to relate here.
