Can someone Please educate me?

[Bluerthanblue]

Congress voted to allow Bush to go to war on Iraq with the nod of the U.N.- Did the U.N. ever really say 'ok'? if not, is Bush not acting AGAINST the dictate of the people, and committing treason???-

i'm not understanding- i just read the letter from Diplomat to Greece John Brady Kiesling, resigning in anticipation of W's illegal war, followed by a Diplomat named Brown..... they both refer to acting against congress- and my memory is failing me.... HOW was this justified?

[Stand and Fight]

1. Bingo.

You're on it. That is precisely what makes this war illegal, friend.

[goodhue]

2. The UN never said Okay

The war is illegal and Bush is a war criminal who should be tried.

[NCMojo]

3. I disagree in principle, but...

... in reviewing the actual congressional resolution (http://hnn.us/articles/1282.html) I don't see any language requiring that Bush gain the approval of the UN or the UN Security Council. Closest I can find is:

Whereas on September 12, 2002, President Bush committed the United States to `work with the United Nations Security Council to meet our common challenge' posed by Iraq and to `work for the necessary resolutions,' while also making clear that `the Security Council resolutions will be enforced, and the just demands of peace and security will be met, or action will be unavoidable';

... but even that is in no way definitive.

Can someone read over the resolution and find what I am missing?

[Village Idiot]

5. UN Security Council NEVER voted to end Res 1441...

BushCo did it themselves, despite VOCAL opposition from just about every counrty (except UK and Israel)...

Annan decried the unilateral act as an "illegal war," as did Pope John Paul II...

[NCMojo]

6. Granted

But does that mean that Bush was required to gain the approval of the Security Council?

Section 2 more or less addresses the point:

----------------------------------------------------

SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS.

The Congress of the United States supports the efforts by the President to

(1) strictly enforce through the United Nations Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions applicable to Iraq and encourages him in those efforts; and

(2) obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions.

----------------------------------------------------

But note that this comes before the authorization on the use of force
-- Congress may be supporting the US diplomatic efforts, but it is not requiring them.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

4. I never thought

the War Powers Act, which, to my thinking, subverts the Constitutional dictates on how war is declared in our government, was Constitutional. Yet, that's what Fuckface's old man used in the first Gulf "War."

I think it stinks, and I can't believe it's been allowed to sit there for so long without any constitutional challenges (that I know of).