Why did Obama go to Congress on Syria?

scottystarnes.wordpress.com

Late last week, President Obama abruptly decided to send a request for authorization to use force in Syria to Congress.  The about-face came after several days of claims by aides that the president did not need permission from Congress to act.  In fact, in a speech on Saturday, President Obama still denied that he needed permission from Congress and sources in the Administration told Press TV that the president had already made up his mind to strike Syria, even if Congress failed to give its approval.

 

Why did the president decide to seek congressional approval if he believes that he doesn’t need it and his mind is already made up?  Obama has a long history of overstepping his constitutional authority in domestic matters so why does he suddenly feel the need to go to Congress when there is ample precedent for conducting limited attacks without congressional approval?  Two years ago when Obama went to war in Libya, he not only did not ask for congressional authorization for the initial use of military force, but did not comply with the time limits of the War Powers Act, denying that U.S. forces were engaged in hostilities under the law, a position that Politifact said “violates our standards of common sense.”

 

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Syrian civil war may provide answer to Saddam’s missing WMDs

Dead children in the aftermath of Saddam’s 1988 attack on Halabja (Sayed/Wikimedia)

Secretary of State John Kerry’s formal accusation today that Syria has used chemical weapons against rebel forces and civilians sounds somewhat similar to Bush Administration charges against the regime of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq a decade ago.  Saddam had used his chemical weapons numerous times against Iraqi minorities and was all but ignored by the world.

 

When the U.S. led a coalition of nations to depose Saddam in 2003, the belief that Iraq possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons as well as a nascent nuclear weapons program was a major justification for the invasion.  Failure to locate large stocks of the weapons led to charges that President George W. Bush had lied to lead the United States into an unnecessary war.

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Are Iranian nukes a done deal?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to summon the Mahdi (www.kremlin.ru)

With a pair of announcements this week, it seems that Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons may be all but certain. First, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dashed Obama Administration hopes for negotiating an end to Iran’s nuclear enrichment. Mottaki affirmed that Iran would not stop enriching uranium within its borders and denied that international sanctions are having any effect.

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http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/are-iranian-nukes-a-done-deal