Will President Obama receive a yes or no vote from Congress to strike Syria?
On Aug. 31, President Obama made the decision that the United States should take military action against Bashard al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
Congress has made it clear that they want their voices to be heard before any rash decisions are made and Obama wants Congress to debate this issue extensively then vote on it.
A call to action has been made and in his speech on Aug. 31 Obama stated that he believed “all of us should be accountable as we move forward and that can only be accomplished with a vote.”
There has been speculation that our Commander-in-Chief is actually the “Avoider-in-Chief” and that by going to Congress he is blatantly going against his own words. In his speech on Aug. 31 he also stated that he was not elected to avoid hard decisions and that he knows it is within his power to take action but he is pushing for congressional authorization even though it is not necessarily required for such limited action.
Flashback to this day 12 years ago, Sept. 11, 2001, the day that caused America to go into survival mode and changed the way that we look at the world.
The terrorist attacks that day were acts of war and actions had to be taken against those responsible, no American was arguing that fact. On Oct. 7, 2001 the war in Afghanistan began. However the military action in Iraq did not take place until two years later.
Rumors that Saddam Hussein was housing weapons of mass destruction gave President Bush all the reason he needed to strike. Saddam Hussein and his two sons were given 48-hours to surrender, they did not. On March 20, 2003 the Iraq war had begun.
Curveball was the code name given to the Iraqi defector Rafid Ahmed Alwan, who claimed that Saddam Hussein had used biological weapons labs to avoid detection of his weapons of mass destruction and even though there was no actual proof of these alleged weapons of mass destruction, President Bush used this testimony to justify the war in Iraq.
The ghost of Curveball is what is haunting the decision to take action in Syria. The American people are afraid of Iraq 2.0 taking place. Americans have had enough of being lied to and enough of war.
It seems quite fitting that Constitution Day is approaching as President Obama advances the decision to take military action against Syria to congress for authorization.
So although the President has the power to strike Syria the decision to go to congress is the most constitutional decision.
The power of authority to declare war was assigned to Congress by the drafters of the Constitution in 1787.
On Sept 17, 1789 the Constitution was ratified and as of 2004, this day each year has been recognized as Constitution Day, celebrated across the country, it is a day for Americans to get educated on the constitution that protects all of us.
The aftermath of the Afghanistan war and the upcoming withdrawal from Iraq has given the American people some relief. But now there is the chance of provoking yet another war.
Taking the constitutional approach to this decision is what is best, it allows the people a chance to speak with their representatives so that their voices could be heard.
To have your voice heard contact the local representatives. Our congresswoman Judy Chu can be e-mailed using this website, chu.house.gov/connect-with-me/email-judy.
Our voices should be heard, so speak up and speak loud.
