by Mary W Maxwell, LLB
This is a most interesting presidential race. There is a candidate who is also a major in the US Army (by way of the National Guard) and who is well-versed in — are you sitting down? — the Constitution’s allocation of the power to make war.
Which is to say that she, Rep Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, knows that the Constitution does not allocate any war-making power to the President. None. Zilch. Cipher. Prez ain’t got the right to declare war against Nation A, Nation B, or Nation C.
Huh? Isn’t he the commander in chief of the armed forces? Yup. He can command them in war all he likes, but only after Congress (both Houses, by majority) agree that that we want war. For the record, the legal rule about war-making is located in Article I, sec 8, clause 1 of the parchment.
Pimp Me Twice
The current argument, however, between the White House and The House (as personified by “Miss Hawaii”) is not only about the power to declare war. It is about a president’s right to delegate his (non-existent) war-making power to the leader of another nation.
WHAT? Who would do that? Trump, according to Tulsi, has told the Saudi king that he can use American soldiers in accordance with his kingly desire du jour. Trump said (honest, he said this in plain English):
“Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed.”
Note that the president said “We are waiting to hear who they believe was the cause of the attack” [Iran] — as if it would not be our duty to determine that extremely important matter. And, stunningly, we are waiting for foreign direction to “proceed.”
Tulsi has reduced this to a word — Trump is pimping US soldiers. Shades of Deborah Palfrey!
Rep Gabbard was born in 1981 — ten years before the US’s Operation Desert Storm to help Kuwait. So she may or may not know about the uproar among troops that occurred in 1991, when a Kuwaiti guy arrogantly said: “We don’t have to fight because our American slaves are doing it for us.”
Pimp me once, shame on me, pimp me twice, shame on you — as the saying goes. No Congressperson put a up a fuss when the Kuwaiti guy called us his slaves (as far as I remember), but this particular female legislator went ballistic yesterday.
As well she might. Warring against Iran could be the death of us all. I will get back to Trump’s “locked and loaded” statement later. Let me run down the situation generally.
Our Middle East Wars, An Overview
Americans have come to think that we somehow have chores to perform in the Middle East. Actually, we don’t. So let’s see why people think we do. Some think it is related to Muslim attacks on our soil (New York, Boston, etc.)
9-11 and the AUMF
On September 11, 2001, a force attacked New York City. Within hours, Paul Bremmer of the McLellan Marsh Insurance Company (he owner of Kroll Associates, a CIA proprietary) was on TV saying it was done by Osama Bin Laden. Note: he should have been in his office at that moment which was on the 93rd floor of the North Tower just where the explosion occurred.
Islamic blame having been thus established, it took a mere seventy-two hours for Congress to pass, on September 14th, a joint resolution known as AUMF:
“Whereas, on September 11, 2001, acts of treacherous violence were committed against the United States and its citizens; and
“Whereas, such acts render it both necessary and appropriate that the United States exercise its rights to self-defense and to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad; and
“Whereas… blah blah — (three more Whereas’s). Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled …
“That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons….”
The name AUMF means Authorization to Use Military Force. Rep Barbara Lee, alone, voted against it. I say: All hail, Barbara — queen of common sense and decency!
Getting Afghanistan
On October 8, 2001 we invaded Afghanistan. That was a war that had been planned for months, without regard to 9-11, but with regard to a pipeline deal. Americans, though, were propagandized to think is was to get the man who did the WTC attack (by way of hijacked planes) and who was now hiding in a cave in Afghanistan. That is, Osama bin Laden, who is not an Afghani but is a Saudi national. His brother Salim bin Laden is on the board of the Carlyle group along with the older George Bush, funnily enough.
That Afghanistan war is still happening after 18 years. Rep Tulsi Gabbard quotes a figure of $4 billion per month in taxpayer money to keep it going. ($6 trillion for all these adventures since 9-11).
A real possibility is that troops are “needed” to guard the poppy fields, from which heroin is produced. See my discussion of Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan here.
Iraq Had Three Wars
- The Iran-Iraq war
From 1981 to 1989 Ronald Reagan was president and it appears to me that his vice president, George Bush, who had formerly been a CIA Director, really ran the White House. In the years 1980 to 1988 there was a bloody war between Iraq and Iran. We supplied both sides with weapons — which is kind of lousy when you think of it. Which side did we hope would win? Neither. (So that’s even lousier, right?) It was a war to wear the people down. US troops did not take part.
- The Kuwait Invasion by Saddam
By 1990 (with Poppy Bush now president), Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, our ally, complained that neighboring Kuwait, was diagonal drilling to scoop oil from under Iraqi land. So he invaded Kuwait in August 1990. A transcript furnished by Iraq shows US Ambassador, April Glaspie telling Saddam “Do as you please.” Nevertheless, our troops assisted the Kuwaiti’s (allegedly as their slaves) and attacked Iraq from the air, killing around 100,000 people.
Congress did not vote for that war. When Bush said he was planning an “offensive military operation,” fifty-four members of Congress, led by Ron Dellums, marched down to the DC federal courthouse to seek an injunction. District Court Judge Harold Greene, denied their request on December 13, 1990, on the basis of “ripeness” — not enough Congressmen had joined in, and there was still time for war to be avoided diplomatically, he said.
The invasion began in January 1991 with a “shock and awe” display over Baghdad. Recall that the alleged cause of the war was to help Kuwait against Saddam. Thus it is not surprising that the US was able to get many countries to contribute to this war effort — including Arab countries, such as Syria and the UAE (where I happened to be living at the time).
- The “WMD” Excuse for 2003 Invasion of Iraq
In March 2003, Iraq was jointly invaded by US, UK, and Australian forces. The reason? (I mean the stated reason?) It was to make sure Saddam did not use WMD — weapons of mass destruction. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, aided by John Negroponte, shame on the pair of them, reported to the United Nations that Iraq had obtained yellow cake from Nigeria for the making of nuclear weapons. Powell also said anthrax was on the menu.
Most Americans believe Iraq had something to do with 9-11, even though Bush, Jr actually stated explicitly that there was no connection. Millions of people around the world protested the US’s aggression in Iraq. France, normally our ally, would not participate. (So we had to rename French fries “Freedom fries.” Very mature, huh?)
The Department of Defense calculated in 2016 that 4,400 US military died from the 2003 invasion of Iraq and 32,000 were wounded. Australia had sent 2,000 soldiers; none were killed in combat but 6 died in accidents.
General Wesley Clark’s List
In 2007, US Army General Wesley Clark (b 1944) went on TV, to Amy Goodman’s show, and reported that he had seen a memo in late 2001 at the Pentagon. It said that we would wipe out 7 nations: Libya, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, “finishing off with Iran.” Most of those are shown on the above map, except the two African nations: Sudan is south of Egypt, and Somalia is on the eastern horn, near Ethiopia.
(Afghanistan did not need to appear on Clark’s late-2001 list of planned invasions, as the US already had boots on the ground there.)
You may wonder how the plan worked out. We did indeed wreck Somalia and Libya. Sudan fell apart but I do not know if we were involved there. We have attacked Lebanon, and Syria sporadically.
The usual excuse for our military action is that a brutal dictator in the targeted nation is “cruel to his own people.” or they are Islamic terrorists. For Lebanon or Iran, the reason is that they threaten the survival of Israel, “our best ally.”
Congress did not authorize the above invasions, as the AUMF was considered sufficient. (Translate: legislators do not want to discuss war.) Please cast your eyes back to the Resolution above. The AUMF is only for nations that caused the 9-11 deaths — which is to say, ourselves.
Locked and Loaded for a Strike on Iran
And now we come to the biggie. Tulsi Gabbard cleverly expended her anger on the outrageous statement by Trump that he’ll let Saudi have a say in our war decision. Thus the young Army major was able express the problem as a soldier issue — Trump is “pimping” American soldiers. But her real fear is about the locked and loaded comment. She senses war.
I must not pretend that I understand what weapons are on site in Iran, or for that matter, Russia or Israel. I do you no good as an advisor, regarding the winnability of a war. Tulsi says it would bring far more horror than we have seen so far. I say flat-out we should not proceed.
Maybe there is good reason to attack? Fine. Let it all be discussed and let us have our Congressman vote based on the real factors. Let’s insist on transparency. Enough of the Freedom fries mentality.
The Constitution must prevail. I have sued in court twice to make a president follow the rules, but the judiciary — as in the case of Judge Greene above — will not protect the Constitution. The Great Nine are taking their cue from someone above them, which is pretty frightening.
Note: only one war-powers case ever made it to the Supreme Court. In Massachusetts v Laird, the state of Massachusetts sued the feds over the Vietnam call-up, but SCOTUS was not moved.
Who is going to save us from a reckless shootout with Iran, leading potentially to Russia getting involved?
You are.
Have some responsibility, will you please? If you are American, look how you let others carry the can — to your detriment. Australians, too, were stooges in the Vietnam tragedy and the destruction, wholesale, of Iraq.
Get clear on this — Trump’s boys are locked and loaded. You don’t want them to be locked and loaded. You don’t want an attack on Saudi to be interpreted as having come from Iran, when it’s far more likely that it is a false flag.
We in the US have been making war on the basis of a false flags since the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 (if not the firing on Fort Sumpter in 1863!). The Baby Boomer generation is familiar with the Gulf of Tonkin false flag — 50,000 US men died in Vietnam as a result. (Not to mention two million Vietnamese.)
And as with Saddam, the Iranians today are said to be making WMD, weapons of mass destruction, notably nukes. In 1898, Randolph Hearst, media mogul of his day, authored the slogan “Remember the Maine!” How about “Remember Colin Powell!”
Fool me into war once, shame on you. Fool me into war twice, shame on me.
Who Is the Trouble-maker?
May I take you back again to General Wesley Clark spilling the beans, for whatever reason, in 2007, about the Pentagon memo. That piece of paper calmly announced that the US — you and I — would WIPE OUT SEVEN COUNTRIES — REPEAT: WIPE OUT SEVEN COUNTRIES — “finishing off with Iran.” Almost said as cavalierly as one would say “We’ll finish off the dinner with lemon pie.”
In her speech yesterday, September 17, 2016, Tulsi Gabbard said that, as an officer in the Army, she took an oath to defend the American people and the Constitution. That is not strictly correct. Defending the people is not mentioned. I’d like you to pay close attention to the oath that all officers take:
I ______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.
We have domestic enemies galore and it is they who will draw us into the hell of a lifetime. Sure, it’s embarrassing to talk about that. The polite thing is to look the other way or gloss over it. OK then, the solution must be: get over your embarrassment problem. Enough with the politeness already!
Stop the world, for pity’s sake. Call a spade a spade. Don’t start a war with Iran!
There’s no copyright on Mary’s article. Distribute.
Mary thank you for bringing up SEVEN COUNTRIES memo.
The seven countries list finds its genesis in Israel’s Oded-Yinon Plan dating to around 1982. America has basically been used as an extension of Israeli power (by way of deception etc etc). We are not talking of any fabled “right to exist” anymore, we are talking of “Greater Israel”. They never intended to stop with just the Palestinian territories, and Iran has always been their penultimate target.
Pimpin’ USA
.
In reality Gabbard might be “pimpin” us to the Council of Foreign Relations. Her ties to them are well documented.
You are not privvy to the intel. Some things you get right, some you don’t. President Trump, isn’t going to war, unless someone actually attacks his country! Pull your head in!
I’ll ask G5
Get the truth, not the rumour!
I’m a fan of Dave (x22 report), but I have to consider his constant “it’s all going to plan” messages. Is it really all going to plan? So much of the Trump debate is “perspective”. I haven’t watched the above, but will do so.
more truth, not the rumours!
URGENT. WE ARE BEING TRICKED INTO WAR AGAIN!????
Right: Remember idiot and deceiver John Winston Howard (Ex PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA) being ‘duped’ into the Iraq war due to the lies about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction?
Well here we go again?
Agedly Iran or some other intended invasion target blew a few oil tanks in Saudi Arabia. The matter is covered in Mary’s article above and should be read, particularly Clark’s 2007 interview about going invading and murdering in 7 countries in five years. (How many countries did Hitler invade in the late 1930’s?)
A few days ago I noted reported aerial photographs of the damage to about 4 oil tanks and thought, ‘Bloody hell, they were good missile shots’…………same respective spot in each tank at about the 7 O’clock point in each tank. Similar to hitting a target with 303 at 500 yards and grouping all the shots in the bull.
Well, Jim Stone noticed the same and relates it to his opinion that the ‘attack’ is a HOAX.
Just go his link and down a few articles to:
http://82.221.129.208/.wb6.html
He says:
” I AM CALLING IT: THERE WERE NO DRONES AND NO MISSILES USED AGAINST THE SAUDI REFINERY”.
PM MORRISON AND MASS MEDIA FAKES; JUST LOOK AT THE REPORTED HOLES IN THE TANKS AND FOR ONCE, BORROW A BRAIN FROM A ELDERLY ALZHEIMERS SUFFERER, INSERT IT BETWEEN YOUR EARS AND REV IT UP.
If you do not, just go back one gumshoe article and justify not being indicted for warmongering crimes.
BTW; note that Trump released US oil reserves to dampen an attempted effort to spike the oil price.
NEOCON FAIL?!!
STIFF, SOME OF US ARE AWAKE
Sorry;
On checking the link and again perusing it, I have now noted part of Stone’s opinion as:
“.. this looks like a hand placement job …”
Seems to be the habitual modus operandi for the NEOCONS, our politicians and our fake phoney false mass media.
Truly sorry!!
Pardonez moi, Bob, but all of Wesley Clark’s “prophecies” went according to plan.
And why are you so keen to show that it’s not true. Is this you research source, the X22 people? They don’t do nuttin’ for me.
Bob, u r not a Seppo? I am Seppo. It bothers me as much to hear a prez say he can flout the Con if he then doesn’t act upon that boast, as much as if he does. Crazy as that may be, it is in my Seppo blood. When I campaigned in Bama, my slogan was “You either have the Constitution or you don’t.”
Didja read our articles on the sinking of the Liberty? Wadja think?
I will now print only 6% of a list of academics killed from 2003 to 2005 in Iraq (so as not to clog up the column here). I got it from cara1933.org, ages ago:
Fuad Abrahim Mohammed Al-Bayaty: PhD in German philology, professor and head of College of Philology, Baghdad University. Haifa Alwan Al-Hil: PhD in physics, College of Science for Women. Heikel Mohammed Al-Musawi: PhD in medicine, assassinated 17 November 2005. Hassan Abd Ali Dawood Al-Rubai: PhD in stomatology, dean of the College of Stomatology. Assassinated 20 December 2005. Hazim Abdul Hadi: PhD in medicine, lecturer. Khalel Ismail Abd Al- Dahri: PhD in physical education, lecturer at the College of Physical Education, Baghdad University.
Kilan Mahmoud Ramez: PhD lecturer at Baghdad University. Maha Abdel Kadira: PhD, lecturer at Baghdad University’s College of Humanities. Majed Nasser Hussein Al-Maamoori: Professor of veterinary medicine at Baghdad University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, assassinated 17 February 2007. Marwan Al-Raawi: PhD in engineering and lecturer at Baghdad University.
Bob, all we had to do was subject Powell or Negroponte to a bit of stress to give up the tall tale of the WMD, and those persons would not have been assassinated.
Tell me if you disagree. Maybe I am living in a delusion about everything.
There is no way that President Trump will send troops to attack Iran. He is attempting to make a trade deal with that country and encourage them to give up producing nuclear material.
For those that are not yet awake to the Trump and Patriot way of doing things, many of Trump’s announcements have a double meaning, to misinform the Deep State. They have not yet got all the “swamp creatures” out of the system. However it seems that, that moment is close at hand.
Each time there is a “false flag” event the Deep State creatures show their hand and leave behind more evidence.
I may be wrong, but if Trump is the “real goods”, we as citizens of the World have our only chance apart from armed revolution, to be freed from the greedy Globalists hands.
No more legislation to benefit only the banking industry and the Intelligence Agencies. Can anybody bring to mind any legislation in recent times that was not along those lines?
There are occasions when the President does not need congressional approval and on other occasions it would come down to the definition of “war”.EG under Australian Law Afghanistan nor Vietnam nor Iraq nor Korea were “wars”.
Yes, no war declared!
So what follows is government and political mass murder.
Seems simple.
I thought that murder is a crime.
Now for the indictments.
I agree Aussiemal that Trump will probably not attack Iran, although for different reasons. It is almost entirely unreported in our mainstream media that Iran has this year signed major economic and military deals with both Russia and China. After the Iranians shot down a US drone that was intruding on their air space (and left untouched the accompanying manned bomber) Trump was all set to bomb Iran. Both Putin and Xi telephoned him and he backed off.
Trump also knows that the Iranians have the capacity to destroy every US military base within 2000km.
The wild card is not Trump (although he is not entirely logical) but the madmen around him, including his latest appointment who seems to think 20 million US casualties is survivable.
A greater worry is that the Australian government seems incapable of perceiving where its real interests lie, and seems hell bent on following the US into whatever made escapade they come up with, not least in the Middle East and the South China Sea.
Hello James.
I also do not think Trump wants to attack Iran and he could be putting up feints (threats) to appease the ‘madmen’ around him. By that tactic he can identify the real genuine mads. He piddled on Pompeo, filed him and flushed him out of the tent.
I wonder if you have considered my comment above in regard to the ‘holing’ of a few Saudi oil barrels. (!)
Be interested in your opinion on the event and consequences.
Note that in the second x22 report logged above there is reference to that Saudi event.
Lisa Haven has opined on that event also.
My concern is; considering a view that the Saudi event was a trick that did not dupe Trump, that the deep state banker operatives will have another attempt, as with 911……… because they must be reaching the desperate stage to cause a war to bail out of their fiscal deep hole and maintain post war control.
There appears to be a undeclared gutter war under way, as has existed for a period and the stench is arising to a overwhelming degree.
In the historical perspective of desperatio and infamy, keep in mind the Israeli murder of crewmen on the USS Liberty, attacked for two hours with the intention of murdering the whole crew so that there were no surviving witnesses to absolve Egypt and the U S could justify murdering Egyptian inocents with a lovely war following.
Canadian report. I don’t understand the Yemen bit.
Not a fan of Dave (X22 Report). He, like Qanon who he quotes regularly , are both psyops ( & not particularly sophisticated ones ).
Case in Point : In the ‘ We are (closer) than you think video from X22 , Dave bangs on about Ilhan Omar’s alleged incestuous marriage. This is a diversion.
Ilhan Omar is a hero for bringing up the 9/11 False Flag ( she said ; ‘ Some people did something on 9/11 ‘ ) & hinting that all is not as it appears (as per the bogus official US government explanation ).
Anyone smearing Ilhan Omar is a Deep State operative.
People assume that because the mainstream media (msm) & Hillary etc ( confirmed Deep State assets) are against Trump that ipso facto, he must be working AGAINST the Deep State.
What they don’t know is that there are factions within the Zio-cabal Deep State. One supports Hillary / The Dems / propagating the Climate Change hoax & the other supports the GOP / Trump / a less Draconian approach to Climate Change.
However, there is ONE thing that is immutable , & ALL factions of the Deep State are unambiguously in support of.
And that is the endless wars / enrichment of the Military-Industrial-Security complex (whilst turning the US into an authoritarian Surveillance / Police state ) & the exhaustion of the blood & treasure of the gentiles in fighting these wars for Israel.
Why do we think of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, you know Wesley’s famous leak. Where is he now(I should look it up but on pesky phone)%whistle-blowers do not do well%, as ancient warring nations?.
When did these demarcation zones get mapped and why do they battle mostly brothers(OK sisters ahh) then allegely randomly attack international targets.
To get a fair price for the oil(how cheap would that be without the collective need for ‘defence budgets demanded’
To me this has the hallmarks of conspiracy, Iran has a central Bank demarcated like the mapped boundaries.I therefore surmise the projected government of Iran like the Shah before are all in bed together.
I find this odd coming so close on the heels of Bolton’s “departure”.
Our government is controlled by criminals. Unless they are replaced and convicted, for untold sufferings and masterminding the biggest lie of the century, it’s business as usual. Our girls and boys will continue to be mercenary cannon fodder because the local economy has been replaced by the world’s poor and, just like us, they can’t get a job here.
That’s why many of these wars are ‘Undeclared wars’. The is why the US goes to the Communist UN Council to get support for their false flag wars. Congress has been inept for decades…
Lookout the price of oil will soon rise at the pumps for all of us. The oil companies never lose out!
Yale Law School Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository Faculty Scholarship Series Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship1-1-1974Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bb41/9d263d56ea4d7767e5436d8337a9ca6ae2c8.pdf
Book Review
https://www.amazon.com/Executive-Privilege-Constitutional-Studies-History/dp/0674274253
Let us not leave out the prostitute Australia for the aiding and abetting of these war crimes against foreign countries with the SAS, RAF, and Australian Navy.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/islamic-state-tony-abbott-hints-air-strikes-syria/6713720
Mr Abbott said Royal Australian Air Force planes were already involved in refuelling Coalition planes for strikes in Syria and controlling air space for strikes across the border.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-20/leaked-documents-reveal-pine-gaps-crucial-role-in-us-drone-war/8815472
ntelligence from Australia’s Pine Gap base is being used on US battlefields, leaked documents from the US National Security Agency have revealed for the first time.
The documents reveal that the base outside Alice Springs, officially titled Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap, provides detailed geolocation intelligence to the US military that can be used to locate targets, including for special forces and drone strikes.
The use of lethal unmanned drones by the US military has been blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths across countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan Syria, Yemen and Somalia.
The documents, which Background Briefing is publishing for the first time, come from the massive archive of classified documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Pine Gap ‘THE POISONED HEART OF AUSTRALIA’
https://worldbeyondwar.org/pine-gap-poisoned-heart-australia/
Don’t you worry your little heart, Arlyn, rest assured, when the missiles begin to fly, (and I certainly believe they will) a fair number will be targeting AUSTRALIA and in specific, the U.S. bases located here. The whole World KNOWS how important these bases are to the U.S.’s military, therefore any commander worth his salt, would ensure the neutralisation of said facilities as a first strike. Thanks to the morons in Canberra, 2/3’s of Australia will become no man’s land after such a strike. The base near Alice Springs is not the only base in Australia, we have the submarine low frequency transmitter at Exmouth, we also have radio communications near Geraldton, which also play an important part in U.S. Military communications, then there is the U.S. base in Darwin, currently undergoing MAJOR expansion, after we were told that would never happen.(I’m hoping an errant stray missile will take out Canberra, preferably when Parliament is sitting) Turns out the Yanks don’t appreciate the Chinese having control of the Darwin harbour, thus know everything that goes on there, including which U.S. Military ships dock, and the reasons they are visiting. So now Canberra has given them permission to build their own docking facilities away from prying eyes.
Funny that the Morons in Canberra have never questioned, what it is the Americans are doing, that no one is allowed to know about. AND in our own back yard to boot.
Fraser was dead right, when he said, “we should not be relying on the U.S. for anything and need to place OUR OWN INTERESTS ABOVE OTHER NATIONS.
Yes indeed Eddy. The electorate or the populous must wake up!