Trump administration seeks to turn War Powers Resolution into ‘paper tiger’
'Bruce Fein, a US constitutional and international law expert and former US associate deputy attorney general, spoke to Al Jazeera about the limits of the War Powers Resolution to constrain a US president determined to go to war without congressional approval.
Fein said the resolution “never says anywhere” that the 60-day deadline to receive congressional approval for military action “stops if there’s a ceasefire”.
On Thursday, a Trump administration official said – on the eve of the 60-day limit to wage war without Congress’s approval – that the war in Iran has ended due to the ceasefire that began in early April.
That means, according to reports, President Trump does not deem it necessary to seek congressional approval for military action against Iran.
Fein warned that such an interpretation “turns the resolution into simply a paper tiger”.
“You have to ask, why has President Trump not asked Congress to declare war? Just like in the Vietnam war, there was not any declaration of war there either, because he knows he would lose the vote,” Fein said.
“Why would Mr Trump not ask Congress for a declaration if he thought it would pass? He has a majority in the House and the Senate. He knows he will lose,” he said.
“The War Powers Resolution is a sideshow. The real element here is that under Nuremberg International law principles adopted by Congress, we are engaged in a criminal war of aggression,” he added.
God has a different definition. The IRGC is formally committed to agression against civilians and is therefore not entitled to protection from the NAP.
If congress really wants to take the PRC's side then Trump or myself have a duty to declare war on congress. You'd best lobby the New Zealand government to start blockading the US because petitioning the UN isn't going to do anything.
Praise be to Allah.
Israeli demolition of Lebanese towns while 'ceasefire' is in place.
USA is sponsoring these war crimes.
The War Powers Resolution has been a paper tiger for decades.
Presidents from both parties ignore it when they want. This changes nothing.
Yes they say the same was the case in Vietnam (and Afghanistan and Iraq?) and it did not end well with those wars.
Were those wars the same in that they would not have succeeded in a vote at Congress?
Also see todays most downzapped post about the war -
#1481633