Thursday, March 01, 2007

The real reason Bush talks of those EFP's

As we all wait to see just what exactly is going to come from these proposed talks with Iran another thought has occurred to me.

Bush and his gang have been making an awful lot of noise about supposed Iranian supplies of EFP's finding their way into Iraq and killing US soldiers. Now there is barely a sentient human being on the planet that doesn't realise how little sense this makes; this asks us to believe that the Shia government of Iran are supplying a Sunni insurgency so that they can then attack the Shia government that Iran are allied with. It's simply fantastical nonsense.

I also note that almost the entire Bush regime are now saying, almost to a man, that they will "protect the troops". This is now being repeated like a Rovian mantra so that, if Bush does launch air strikes on Iran, the implication will be that those who oppose what he's done will somehow not be supporters of the troops.

But the real reason Bush has invented this tale of Iranian EFP's flooding Iraq is because this is the mechanism by which he hopes to circumvent Congress.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 clearly states that the decision to go to war is one that can only be taken by both the Congress and the President. However, it does allow for exceptional circumstances. Section 2(c) states:

The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.
This is the reason why Bush continues to insist that Iran is arming the insurgency and it's why he keeps repeating that he will "protect the troops". Bush is going to argue that under this subsection he does not have to approach Congress as attacks taking place against the US's armed forces gives him the right to "protect the troops".

It's the only thing that makes any sense of the nonsensical theory that he keeps propounding.

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