Thank God for the Internet....

[novapsyche]

Television news is scary, comparatively.

Since the end of World War II the United States has at least formally agreed to international constraints on the right of any nation, including itself, to start a war. These constraints were often evaded but rarely just ignored. And evasion has its limits, enforced by the sanction of embarrassment. This gave these international rules at least some real bite.

But Bush defied embarrassment and slew it with a series of Orwellian flourishes. If the United Nations wants to be "relevant," he said, it must do exactly as he says. In other words, in order to be relevant, it must become irrelevant. When that didn't work, he said: I am ignoring the wishes of the Security Council and violating the United Nations charter, in order to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution.

[...] Putting all this together, Bush is asserting the right of the United States to attack any country that may be a threat to it in five years. And the right of the United States to evaluate that risk and respond in its sole discretion. And the right of the president to make that decision on behalf of the United States in his sole discretion. In short, the president can start a war against anyone at any time, and no one has the right to stop him. And presumably other nations and future presidents have that same right. All formal constraints on war-making are officially defunct.

from By Whose Authority?, The Washington Post

Comments

[padpedpladuk.livejournal.com]

Attacking someone because of what they might do is bound to cause trouble. Thanks for posting this.