[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     HOW LONG WILL THE WAR WITH IRAQ GO ON BEFORE CONGRESS NOTICES?

  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 sexual 
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.

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