Congress Resolves to Go to War
by Mary Shepard, WAMM

On October 16, 2002, George W. Bush signed into law a resolution to authorize use of the U.S. military against Iraq. The House passed the resolution by a 296-133 vote, and the Senate passed it by a vote of 77-23. Of Minnesota’s delegation, the following voted in support of the resolution (and therefore of the war): Rep. Gil Gutknect (Rep.), Rep. Mark Kennedy (Rep.), Rep. Jim Ramstad (Rep.), Rep. Collin Peterson (DFL), and Rep. Bill Luther (DFL). The following voted against the resolution: the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (DFL), Sen. Mark Dayton (DFL), Rep. Betty McCollum (DFL), and Rep. Martin Sabo (DFL), and Rep. Jim Oberstar (DFL).

“This is the best Congress money can buy.” How many times has this been said during the Reagan/Bush years! Now we have seen the consequences. The “debate” and vote to hand our nation over to the cabal in Washington was done in the blink of an eye.

We heard enough from our Congress, however, to realize they neither knew nor cared much about the impending invasion being planned for Iraq. There were exceptions, of course. Sen. Robert Byrd’s (Dem., WV) statements were admirable, but his fellow lawmakers attributed his bravery to the fact that he will not be running for re-election.
Most of the other speakers not only revealed an abysmal ignorance about why the Administration was proposing the war and what the result might be, they were also ignorant about the Constitution that they were about to violate. They ignored the safeguards our nation’s founder put in place against Congress’ cavalier disdain of the electorate (an electorate who demonstrated opposition to the war day after day in their mail and phone calls and constant demonstrations). They served notice that they are not accountable to us any more, but to their funders, who were telling them to get this irritating issue out of the way and go home to campaign. Which was, after all, what they had been paid to do.

Senator John Warner (Rep., VA) said categorically that the Constitution gave the President the responsibility to decide issues of peace and war. I heard another senator say that the President, not the House of Representatives, had the power of the purse.

We can be grateful that our two senators voted against the resolution at the end, though Dayton’s lingering willingness to vote “yes” exposes again a familiar mistake made by policy makers. They have an illusion that their important positions give them access to information the general public cannot get for security reasons. What they sometimes forget is that this information comes from the very sources that have been lying to them all along: the intelligence agencies.

In the last ten years we have seen the dismantling of our nation’s checks and balances. The legislative body has been bought, the judiciary has been compromised by terrible appointments (e.g. Clarence Thomas), and the executive branch was stolen in the last election. The two political parties are the property of the corporate power brokers, so voters cannot find a way to nominate candidates they can support. No wonder people have stopped voting.

Jefferson said that if, by chance, all the checks and balances are gone, if you have a free press you are still safe. So when the 1996 Communications Act was passed without a debate and without media coverage, the corporate interests were given the spectrum of the electronic media, and we lost our chance to save a piece of that.

The print press caved in long ago. For years print news has characterized the defense budget as sacrosanct. When cuts are needed they all have to come from programs meeting human needs: housing, health care, schools, libraries, etc. Comparisons with the money we spend to kill people abroad are not reported. News stories about the coming war, now ominously missing from their pages, are based on the assumption that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, despite all testimony to the contrary.

It seems that the military-industrial complex reigns supreme, particularly in its influence over the media and our lawmakers. It is critical that we continue to act to stop this war and save our democracy.

WAMM Action!
Call members of Congress: Thank members who voted against the war resolution, and express your disappointment to those who voted for war.

Voted against the war resolution: Rep. Martin Sabo, Rep. Betty McCollum, Rep. Jim Oberstar, Senator Mark Dayton, and the late Senator Paul Wellstone

Voted for the war resolution: Rep. Jim Ramstad, Rep. Gil Gutknecht, Rep.Mark Kennedy, Rep. Bill Luther, Rep.Collin Peterson

Congressional Switchboard: 1-800-839-5276 or 202-224-3121

Talking Points: Reasons we should not attack Iraq
—An attack will not make us safer. In fact, it might corner Iraq into using any weapons they have against American troops or our allies, and it will increase the hatred of the Arab world against the U.S.

—The case has not been made. Experts like Scott Ritter, former UNSCOM inspector and a Marine, say that Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction, and Iraq has not been tied to the September 11, 2002, attacks.

—It would be incredibly costly: in American lives, in Iraqi lives (300,000 Iraqis were estimated killed in the Gulf War), and in taxpayer dollars.

—It would set a dangerous precedent for preemptive strikes.