Iraq and legality again Re: [extropy-chat] Professor Being Sued OverAnti-Agi

[Samantha Atkins]

On Jun 22, 2005, at 8:05 AM, Brian Lee wrote:

> I've got two schools of thought on this:
> 1) The Iraq war was illegal because all wars/invasions are illegal.  
> (For example, in WW2, Germany waged an illegal war on France,  
> Poland, etc. Then the allies waged an illegal war on Germany by  
> invading Germany. After this point it's all arguing over what the  
> right motivation is and that leads me to point #2).
> 2) Since the US Congress granted war powers to invade Iraq, the US  
> Executive was acting legally in invading Iraq. It is up to each  
> country to decide what is the appropriate motivation and vote. The  
> US voted and decided to go to war and to continue to support the  
> war effort.
>

It is not at all clear to me that "war powers" were granted or that  
it is constitutional for Congress to grant "war powers" in the sense  
of enabling to use military force at will without formal  
Congressional authorization to the President.

But all that isn't what I find most EVIL about this war.  The people  
and congress were hoodwinked into a conflict we had no real reason  
for starting.  And no, it was not the fault of the CIA.   The real  
reasons for the war had nothing to do with WMD or regime change and  
certainly not the "liberation" of the Iraqi people.  The real reason  
is Oil and geopolitical positioning.   This is much of the real  
reason behind the so-called War on Terror as well.  That and the fact  
that the US has become the biggest debtor nation in the world with a  
seriously unbalanced and tipsy economy.

The war spends hundreds of billions, further inflames and strengthens  
those who would do us harm, and will RSN lead to a very draconian  
draft unless Bolton (or a slightly more palatable alternate) can  
browbeat the UN into providing a lot of troops.

In the meantime Patriot II waits in the wings to take away more of  
the freedom we are supposedly defending and increase the range and  
power of Big Brother at home.

- samantha