No Go in Iran

For some time there have been rumors that an attack on Iran is in the formative stages. Apparently there's even some word that this would be an all out air strike against the entire Iranian military -- which if true would not just kill thousands of people, likely including myriads of civilians not just soldiers. Such an action would surely inflame the Iraqi Shiites, throwing Iraq into chaos. If the President is thinking about launching what could become a World War, then Congress needs to say no now. If he continues to flaut any oversight by the elected representatives of the country, then very likely Congress will need to remove him from office.

In today's LA Times Mario Cuomo addresses the Constitutionality of Bush's claims to hold sole war-making powers. Apparently, the Constitution says that Congress must declare wars. Now, we've not done that since WWII, but that's the way it's supposed to work. He writes:

Even if it is too late for Congress to remedy its failure to comply with the Constitution with respect to Iraq, at the very least our candidates for president and our congressional leaders should assure us that they will not allow this lapse to result in further unilateral acts of war -- against Iran, Pakistan or any other nation -- by this president or any other. Our leaders must make it clear that in the future, Congress will insist on compliance with Article I, Section 8 for any military action that is not fairly deemed an unexpected emergency.

So we must say now as a nation that this insane talk of attacking Iran must stop.