crossposted from Daily Kos
House Democrats yesterday abandoned an effort to restrict President Bush's ability to go to war with Iran. Speaker Pelosi had wanted to include in a military spending bill language that would have forced the president to get Congressional authorization for an attack on Iran; but a coalition of Democratic members--conservative Congresspeople and Israeli hawks under pressure from AIPAC--killed the measure.
Senator Jim Webb has introduced a similar bill in the Senate: it would require Bush to seek from Congress approval for an attack on Iran. John Edwards has announced his support for Webb's bill.
On March 5th Virginia Sen. Jim Webb introduced legislation that would restrict President Bush's power to attack Iran by prohibiting funding without authorization from Congress. It would allow Bush to use military force without Congressional approval only to repel an attack by Iran or to thwart an "imminent attack."
I was pleased to see that John Edwards supports Webb's bill.
"Congress has the power to stop this President from taking our country down another disastrous course in Iran, and they should use it now. President Bush long ago exceeded his authority in Iraq and needs to return to Congress for new authority to manage the withdrawal of the U.S. military presence.
"He certainly has not been granted Congressional authority to pursue military action in Iran and Congress should put him on notice that he must request authorization before doing so.
"I applaud Senator Webb for standing up to President Bush and introducing a bill that sets a clear standard and reflects the will of the American people."
Such a move by Edwards demonstrates that he's wiling to rebuff AIPAC in pursuit of a just and sane foreign policy. It also has ramifcations for the presidential race. While Hillary Clinton has demanded that Bush get congressional authorization for an attack on Iran, she has yet to take a position on Webb's bill. Nor, it seems, has Barack Obama. On the web I couldn't find anything regarding Obama's position, so I called his DC office and asked:
Q. Is Senator Obama supporting Webb's Bill that would require Congress to approve an attack on Iran?
A. It hasn't come to a vote yet.
Q. I know, but does he support it?
A. It's coming to vote maybe later this week, I think.
Q. So he doesn't support it.
A. No.
Q. So it's fair to say that he doesn't have a position yet. He doesn't support it and he doesn't oppose it.
A. Yes. Right.
Webb's bill is facing powerful opposition in the Senate. It's important that Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, and all other Democrats take a stand and show AIPAC that it can't hold the country's foreign policy hostage.
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How easily they got us into war
How impossibly hard it is to stop it. Reid's bill (predictably) just failed.
A. I hate Joe Lieberman
B. With any other POTUS, you wouldn't need Webb's bill because the administration would feel constrained by the War Powers act and the war powers of congress -- but not the criminal bunch in charge now.
All of them need to restrict Bush on Iran
I can't believe what the Dems did this week. Bush should not have any authority to go into another country without Congressional approval. He does not have enough man power in Iraq, so the WH is talking about using the Patriot missile (nuclear missles) WTF gives him the right to haphazardly lop a radioactive bomb on another country without provocation. This is a truly dangerous policy and must be stopped.
All Dems need to be in line with Jim Webb. If Edwards is the only one doing so, this will cost the others in the end. This is the most important issue because world stability is at stake. Why would the Dems give Bush any more authority? Even if AIPAC tells them what to do, Dems ought to know by now, Bush & Cheney are not reasonable men, so for God's Sakes keep them on a short leash.
This has always been the problem with Dems
They can't unify when they need to. If this is the kind of Congressional (in)action we can expect then we need to start planning now for which liebercrats we are going to target in the next election and start recruiting quality candidates to run against them in the primaries. If the elective representatives from our party won't act like democrats we need to find people who will. This is our time. We need to take advantage of it.
__________________________Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change -- Andre Gide