Yes, Mr. Bush, You Do Need to Explain

 David Alan Black

It is bad enough that Mr. Bush took us into undeclared wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, defying the U.S. Constitution. The administration exemplifies its disdain for constitutional government in ways that would have made our Founders blush, to put it kindly.

The Bush approach to war-making should be a warning that the same utter disregard for the Constitution will be practiced when it comes to invading Iran. Senator Kerry will do no better if elected. While Kerry has criticized the president’s “blustering unilateralism” in the war on terrorism, he nonetheless voted for the congressional resolution authorizing military force against Iraq.

In 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “I am perfectly willing to mislead and tell lies if it will help win the war.” Don’t think that Bush & Co. won’t be willing to do the same thing to get America into yet another unnecessary and unconstitutional war.

“I’m the commander,” Bush told Bob Woodward in 2002.

See, I don’t need to explain – I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.

In December of 2002, Bush told Barbara Walters, “There’s only one person who is responsible for making that decision [to invade Iraq], and that’s me.”

The message is obvious. The U.S. Constitution can be manipulated and even ignored if such measures are necessary to pursue “national security goals.” One wonders if the president has even read the very document he took an oath to defend and protect. According to the U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 8), the Congress, not the president, is responsible for declaring war. Bush’s claim that “I don’t need to explain” would make more sense were he the Czar of Russia and not a servant of “We the People.”

In 1946 Hermann Goering stated: “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to do the bidding of the leaders. All you have to do is tell then they risk being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.” In the name of fighting terrorism, Bush has demonstrated the same kind of contempt for the public. His willingness to sacrifice both the federal Constitution and, more importantly, American lives plays directly into the hands of our enemies, who would like nothing more than for the United States to wage an imperialistic war against Islam.

Far more than terrorism, it has been our own government that has threatened the security of our nation. Mr. Bush can call Iran, Iraq, and Korea “evil,” but what can be more evil than to ignore the Founders’ conception of self-rule and limited government through an interventionist policy that seeks to Americanize the world?

No one can deny that somewhere along the way America has lost her constitutional moorings. As the administration gears up for “regime change” in oil-rich Iran, repeatedly accusing it of conducting a secret nuclear weapons program, those who really love the United States are obligated to remind Mr. Bush what the Constitution says about making war.

August 17, 2004

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book is Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon.

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