Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Strait of Hormuz resolution
With President Bush's comment yesterday that Iranian speedboats committed "a provocative act" by approaching and threatening three U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz, how long will it be before he asks Congress to pass one of those open-ended resolutions that authorize the use of force? The 2002 Iraq war resolution, which authorized the use of force against Iraq, and the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which authorized President Lyndon Johnson to use "all necessary steps" to protect U.S. forces, were used by the White House to wage wars without a formal declaration of war from Congress. Whether the U.S. warships in the strait, the only shipping access to the Persian Gulf through which 17 million of crude oil pass daily, were ever in danger from the five speedboats doesn't even seem to matter now. If President Bush was looking for a way to start hostilities with Iran, he may have gotten it.
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1 comment:
There is one significant flaw to the argument--we do know Iran is a
threat. How much of a threat requires more information but let us not be
too quick to pacify another dictator ala Adolph Hitler, who could
easily provoke yet an additional conflict. those who forget history are bound to repeat it.
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