18 October 2007

Should Generals Resign if Bush Orders an Attack on Iran?

Slate asks, Should generals resign if Bush orders an attack on Iran? It’s a thoughtful piece that goes into what options high-ranking officers really have if faced with terribly inadvisable orders. But it forgets the larger issue: Bush shouldn’t have the authority to attack Iran. That power—the power to declare war—rests with congress, per Article I Section 8 of the Constitution. Whether congress has the backbone to assert this against the president, or course, remains to be seen (or hopefully doesn’t). Certainly they didn’t when we invaded Iraq.