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more on AP Story Justice Dept. Probing Domestic Spying Leak
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 12:53:01 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: "Mike O'Dell" <mo () ccr org> Date: January 1, 2006 11:41:56 AM EST To: dave () farber netSubject: Re: [IP] more on AP Story Justice Dept. Probing Domestic Spying Leak
Mr. Bray's comment is important:
revealing an ongoing intelligence operation *in wartime*.
(emphasis added) Here we see "The Essential Big Lie" repeated yet again, asserting that we are somehow "at war". (NOTE: This is not to single-out Mr. Bray per se but rather to note how pervasive this collective misapprehension has become.) Unless the Congress took a vote which somehow went unreported, *THERE WAS NO DECLARATION OF WAR BY THE US CONGRESS* The US Constitution is extremely specific as to what is required for the United States to "go to war". Congress has the sole power to declare the United States to be "at war", quite specifically to counterbalance the powers of the President. President George Bush did not seek nor did the US Congress grant an official Declaration of War; therefore the US is not "at war" and there is no condition of "in wartime". No Declaration of War, no "war powers" - it's just that simple; anything else is an attempted "end-run" around the Constitution. There is no Constitutional recognition for "kinda sorta like war", and the continued reliance on this non-condition is particularly ironic given President Bush's preference for Supreme Court justices who interpret the Constitution "as written". Congress complicitously repeating the infamous "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" fiasco after 9/11 doesn't make the current situation "war" any more than it ensured success in the Vietnam "conflict". From the historical record, it seems to be immensely useful for the suppression of dissent that this central assertion be pounded into a populace again and again, that they are indeed "at war" with A Great Enemy, thereby lending credence to assertions that critical thinking about that government's behavior is even more dangerous than usual. The legal facts, however, are transparently clear: there has been no Declaration of War by the US Congress, therefore the US is not "at war". Claims to the contrary are simply untrue, innocently or otherwise. My larger point is that it is hard enough to have reasoned discourse about something this emotionally charged (and with such immense political spoils at stake) without allowing the conversation to be subverted by an erroneous premise extremely convenient to one participant. -mo Hiawatha Bray wrote: intelligence operation in wartime. ----------------------^^^^^^^^^^^^
the Valerie Plame leak was a crime, this leak is doubly so. Hiawatha Bray
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- more on AP Story Justice Dept. Probing Domestic Spying Leak David Farber (Jan 01)
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