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The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 19, 1999, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. PAUL) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. PAUL: Mr. Speaker, I ask my fellow colleagues, how long will the war go on before Congress
notices? We have been bombing and occupying Iraq since 1991, longer the occupation of
Japan after World War II. Iraq has never committed aggression against the United States.
The recent escalation of bombing in Iraq has caused civilian casualties to mount. The Clinton
administration claims U.N. resolution 687, passed in 1991, gives him the legal authority
to continue this war. We have perpetuated hostilities and sanctions for more than 8
years on a country that has never threatened our security, and the legal justification
comes from not the U.S. Congress, as the Constitution demands, but from a clearly unconstitutional
authority, the United Nations.
In the past several months the airways have been filled with Members of Congress relating
or restating their fidelity to their oath of office to uphold the Constitution. That
is good, and I am sure it is done with the best of intentions. But when it comes to explaining
our constitutional responsibility to make sure unconstitutional *** harassment laws
are thoroughly enforced, while disregarding most people's instincts towards protecting
privacy, it seems to be overstating a point, compared to our apathy toward the usurping
of congressional power to declare and wage war. That is something we ought to be concerned
about.
A major reason for the American Revolution was to abolish the King's power to wage war,
tax, and invade personal privacy without representation and due process of law. For most of our history
our presidents and our Congresses understood that war was a prerogative of the congressional
authority alone. Even minimal military interventions by our early presidents were for the most
part done only with constitutional approval.
This all changed after World War II with our membership in the United Nations. As bad as
it is to allow our presidents to usurp congressional authority to wage war, it is much worse for
the President to share this sovereign right with an international organization that requires
us to pay more than our fair share while we get a vote no greater than the rest.
The constitution has been blatantly ignored by the President while Congress has acquiesced
in endorsing the 8-year war against Iraq. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 has done
nothing to keep our presidents from policing the world, spending billions of dollars, killing
many innocent people, and jeopardizing the very troops that should be defending America.
The continual ranting about stopping Hussein, who is totally defenseless against our attacks,
from developing weapons of mass destruction ignores the fact that more than 30,000 very
real nuclear warheads are floating around the old Soviet empire.
Our foolish policy in Iraq invites terrorist attacks against U.S. territory and incites
the Islamic fundamentalists against us. As a consequence, our efforts to develop long-term
peaceful relations with Russia are now ending. This policy cannot enhance world peace. But
instead of changing it, the President is about to expand it in another no-win centuries-old
fight in Kosovo.
It is time for Congress to declare its interest in the Constitution and take responsibility
on issues that matter, like the war powers.