-Caveat Lector-
From: Carol Moore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Peace list from <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Report on War Powers Vote--Call Congress!!!
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 1999 6:40 PM
From: Carol Moore, member, D.C. Stop the War Now
and Washington D.C. Area War Tax Resistance
I don't know if this made the TV news--didn't see it on the newswires.
The resolutions debated by the House Committee on International
Relations for forwarding to the House floor were:
**House Joint Resolution 82 calls on the President "to remove United
States
Armed Forces from their positions in connection with the present
operations
against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia." (CALL CONGRESS AND
TELL THEM YOU SUPPORT IT!!)
**House Joint Resolution 44 declares "a state of war between the United
States and the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."
Both were introduced by Rep. Tom Campbell (R-CA).
Both Democratas and Republicans agreed that there is a Constitutional
issue since technically only Congress can declare war. (Under the War
Powers Act, the President must, within a maximum of 90 days of reporting
to Congress that he has placed US troops "into hostilities or into
situations
where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the
circumstances"-- to withdraw those troops unless Congress has
declared war or voted to grant a specific authorization for the use
of armed forces. Clinton ignored the law in Bosnia and Congress
did not make him obey, defeating a 1998 Campbell Resolution. So
the War Powers issue may yet be fought again.)
As an ex-Democrat, I found it disgusting to watch the Democrats
mostly supporting Clinton's right to make war or peace without Congress
getting very involved--the two standout exceptions being Reps. Barbara
Lee and Cynthia McKinney who called for an immediate end to
the bombing, negotiations and a UN or other peacekeeping role.
The Republicans were all over the place on the issue, though most
were
critical of Clinton and the military as either too aggressive or not
aggressive enough.
The biggest fireworks occured when Rep. Chabot (R) declared that
the bombing had made the refugee problem much worse. Rep. Lantos
(D) (who continuously reminds everyone he is a holocaust survivor)
tried to bully Chabot into taking the statement back but he refused.
Rep. Gejdenson (D) then ranted in the same vein. However, Ms.
Lee and McKinney both later made the same points
as did Chabot (though more subtly) without having to suffer such taunts.
Mr. Campbell was asked what he would do if both his resolutions fail.
He said he would do what Representative Dellums did in the Iraq War
situation, and sue claiming the war is illegal. Dellums lost that case
in
District Court.
The Committee did vote to send both resolutions to the floor of the
House, but also recommended the House vote *against* both.
The vote could be as early as tomorrow, but the Committee did
not specify when. While Congress will not vote to declare war,
the Democrats obviously were a bit worried it might vote to
bring the troops home. But that would take a massive citizens
effort, which is not likely in the next few days.
One moment of drama was when Rep. Curt Weldon of the
Armed Services Committee asked to speak about his plan to
meet with a Russian representative Friday in Vienna, along with Reps.
Steny Hoyer and (unintelligible) another representative. He emphasized
the only problem the Russians had with NATO's demands was
that NATO should not be the peacekeepers. It would be nice
if Rep. Weldon and his crew could singlehandly resolve the issues,
but I don't think we should hold our breaths.
Overall, the hearings gave me the feeling that we live in a
dictatorship
where the president has complete power of life and death over all
of us, via war, world war and nuclear war. Happily, the House guards
were nowhere to be seen so I wore my peace buttons and gave out
my article "Four Reasons We May See Nuclear War in 1999"
http://www.kreative.net/carolmoore/4-reasons-nuke-war.hmtl
to press, public and congresspersons without interference.
(Only mention of nuke war at the hearing!) One can only hope
that one's being there makes some small difference!!
=====================================
Call, fax, email your senators and congressperson. 202-224-3121
Tell them you support House Joint Resolution 82 to bring the troops
home.
Also, there is a new webpage that will email them for you easily.
http://www.StoptheWarNow.com
Also call President Clinton at White House Comment line
202-456-1111 and say you are against bombing and ground
troops. (Go straight to Operator since as of yesterday it was
not a question on the menu.) Or email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
And don't forget Madeline Albright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--------------------------
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