On War

I'd like to talk about the subject of war. This won't be a discussion of the morality of war itself. It is a necessary evil. This won't be a discussion of tactics or strategy. Nor will we discuss it in an abstract sense.

I want to discuss the lawful conduct of war by the American Republic. How do we conduct war and when?

"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." -- The Preamble to the Constitution

Art 1, § 8, "The Congress shall have Power... to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;"

Article 2, § 2, "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;"

There is no provision in the Constitution for the President to send military forces to war. There is no provision in the Constitution for military adventurism such as Korea, Vietnam, Granada, Panama, Gulf War 1, Bosnia, Iraq or any other conflict. There is no provision in the Constitution for maintaining a standing army. There is a provision for raising and supporting an Army, but the appropriations for that use can't be for any longer than two years.

The Founders didn't make any kind of allowances for Wars of Agression. Their plan was to provide for and enable the national defense only. Hence, the Militia.

During the cold war, I remember that we had a 1 million man force in the armed services. The largest portion of the national budget went towards defense. We are still maintaining posts and bases in 130 of the 150 nations of the world. Consider the drain on taxpayer's resources. Did you know that the largest employer in the United States is the Federal Government?

Where am I going with this? Simply this, there are necessary elements for national defense that we must maintain. Just as a Navy was up until the invention of the military aircraft. Now, it would seem logical to me that we would have to maintain the infrastructure for both naval and air defense. That would be a hefty chunk of money charged to the taxpayers, yes, but necessary. I also believe that some sort of human intelligence would be absolutely necessary. On the other hand if we recalled every soldier, sailor and airman stationed abroad, there would be a significant savings since not only could we return them back to civilian society, but we wouldn't have to pay the huge amounts of money maintaining bases.

Maintaining a standing army, such as we have; conducting wars that have not been declared, such as those we were involved in previously; and now Iraq, Afghanistan and very possibly Iran in the very near future; are unconstitutional.

Think about it...