[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 17, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MR. BUSH, MEET WALTER JONES

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 17, 2007

  Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, I would like to place the following article 
written by eminent conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan into the 
Congressional Record. In this fine op-ed, Mr. Buchanan makes reference 
to the recent efforts by my colleague and good friend, Rep. Walter 
Jones, Jr, to derail the march to war with Iran. I am very pleased to 
have been an original co-sponsor of the legislation referenced by Mr. 
Buchanan, H.J. Res. 14, which puts forth the very simple idea that if 
we are going to have a war with Iran we must follow the Constitution. 
The resolution clarifies the fact that the President shall consult with 
Congress, and receive specific authorization pursuant to law from 
Congress, prior to initiating any use of military force against Iran. I 
hope my colleagues will read this article closely and consider what Mr. 
Buchanan has written--and what Rep. Jones is trying to do.
                                                 January 16, 2007.

                      Mr. Bush, Meet Walter Jones

                        (By Patrick J. Buchanan)

       America is four years into a bloody debacle in Iraq not 
     merely because Bush and Cheney marched us in, or simply 
     because neocon propagandists lied about Saddam's nuclear 
     program and WMD, and Iraqi ties to al-Qaeda, anthrax attacks, 
     and 9/11.
       We are there because a Democratic Senate voted to give Bush 
     a blank check for war. Democrats in October 2002 wanted the 
     war vote behind them so they could go home and campaign as 
     pro-war patriots.
       And because they did, 3,000 Americans are dead, 25,000 are 
     wounded, perhaps 100,000 Iraqis have lost their lives, 1.6 
     million have fled, $400 billion has been lost, and America 
     stands on the precipice of the worst strategic defeat in her 
     history.
       Yet, Sens. Clinton, Biden, Kerry, and Edwards--all of whom 
     voted to give Bush his blank check--are now competing to 
     succeed him. And how do they justify what they did?
       ``If only we had known then what we know now,'' they plead, 
     ``we would never have voted for the war.'' They are thus 
     confessing to dereliction in the highest duty the Founding 
     Fathers gave Congress. They voted to cede to a president 
     their power to take us to war.
       Now they wash their hands of it all and say, ``It's Bush's 
     war!''
       And now George Bush has another war in mind.
       In his Jan. 11 address, Bush said that to defend the 
     ``territorial integrity'' of Iraq, the United States must 
     address ``Iran and Syria.''
       ``These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents 
     to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is 
     providing material support for attacks on American troops. We 
     will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the 
     flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and 
     destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training 
     to our enemies in Iraq.''
       The city sat bolt upright. If Bush was talking about 
     Iranian agents inside Iraq, he has no need of a second 
     aircraft carrier in the Gulf, nor for those Patriot missiles 
     he is sending to our allies.
       But does Bush have the authority to take us to war against 
     Iran?
       On ABC last Sunday, National Security Adviser Stephen 
     Hadley, while denying Bush intends to attack Iran, 
     nonetheless did not deny Bush had the authority to escalate 
     the war--right into Iran.
       George Stephanopoulos: ``So you don't believe you have the 
     authority to go into Iran?''
       Stephen Hadley: ``I didn't say that. That is another issue. 
     Any time you have questions about crossing international 
     borders, there are legal questions.''
       Any doubt how Attorney General Gonzales would come down on 
     those ``legal questions''? Any doubt how the Supreme Court 
     would rule?
       Biden sputters that should Bush attack Iran, a 
     constitutional crisis would ensue.
       I don't believe it. If tomorrow Bush took out Iran's 
     nuclear facilities, would a Senate that lacks the courage to 
     cut funds for an unpopular war really impeach him for denying 
     a nuclear capability to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Bush's lawyers 
     would make the same case Nixon made for the 1970 
     ``incursion'' into Cambodia--and even a Nixon-hating 
     Democratic House did not dare to impeach him for that.
       Bush's contempt for Congress is manifest and, frankly, 
     justified.
       Asked if Congress could stop him from surging 21,500 troops 
     into Iraq, Bush on 60 Minutes brushed aside Congress as 
     irrelevant.
       ``I fully understand [the Congress] could try to stop me 
     from doing it. But I've made my decision. And we're going 
     forward.'' Asked if he had sole authority ``to put the troops 
     in there no matter what the Congress wants to do,'' Bush 
     replied, ``In this situation I do, yeah.''
       Is Congress then impotent, if it does not want war on Iran?
       Enter Rep. Walter Jones, Republican of North Carolina.
       The day after Bush's threat to Iran, Jones introduced a 
     Joint Resolution, ``Concerning the Use of Military Force by 
     the United States Against Iran.'' Under HJR 14, ``Absent a 
     national emergency created by attack by Iran, or a 
     demonstrably imminent attack by Iran, upon the United States, 
     its territories, possessions, or its armed forces, the 
     President shall consult with Congress, and receive specific 
     authorization pursuant to law from Congress, prior to 
     initiating any use of force on Iran.''
       Jones' resolution further declares, ``No provision of law 
     enacted before the date of the enactment of this joint 
     resolution shall be construed to authorize the use of 
     military force by the United States against Iran.''
       If we are going to war on Iran, Jones is saying, we must 
     follow the Constitution and Congress must authorize it.
       If Biden, Kerry, Clinton, and Obama refuse to sign on to 
     the Jones resolution, they will be silently conceding that 
     Bush indeed does have the power to start a war on Iran. And 
     America should pay no further attention to the Democrats' 
     wailing about being misled on the Iraq war.

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