Conservatives are upset at a pro-Jihad blog, claiming that its content is “treason” because the writer was giving aid and comfort to the enemy during a time of war.
When did we declare war?
We didn’t. We haven’t since 1942.
On or just after 9/11 I said we should declare war against Al Qaeda. We haven’t, yet conservatives regularly try to assert powers and exceptions that only apply as a result of a formal declaration of war.
Whoa there! Don’t try to get all logical.
Remember, we’re dealing with people that believe the only way to win people over to our side is to kill their friends and neighbors till they love us.
But according to right-wingers, every single liberal and Democrat in America is also guilty of treason and siding with al Qaeda. So what did this guy really do? Not stick his tongue up Bush’s butt the way they do over at The Corner?
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying since Day 1. I’m willing to accept that it can be necessary to take military action before Congress can meet–as in the day of Pearl Harbor. And I’m willing to accept that the military can be used in cases where there is no formal declaration of war.
But if rights are to be restricted because we are in a “state of war”, the Constitution is unambiguous about how that state is reached: by Congressional declaration.
Unfortunately, the War Powers Act takes care of a declaration of war. It was used to stop Nixon’s raid on Cambodia, for example. The problem is that the Iraq War authorization was conditional, and the conditions for authorizing war were NEVER MET. So Congress had (and has) the legal authority to stop the war in its tracks simply by finding that the conditions for war weren’t met, IMO.