More Than 50 in Congress Insist on Political Settlement in Iraq, Demand Obama Come To Congress for Military Authorization

July 2, 2014 • 10:11AM

Lyndon LaRouche commented today, on the congressional letter by Lee and Rigel, with 50 signers on Obama's illegal war: "This is the issue of impeachment."

So far, more than 50 members of Congress have co-signed a letter to Obama initiated by Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) that states their opposition to use of military force in Iraq, and demands that Obama live up to his "constitutional requirements" by seeking Congress's approval for any military action there.
The letter, dated June 24, praises Obama for his purported "restraint" up to that point, a restraint he has now violated by ordering hundreds of U.S. troops on the ground along with armed drones in the sky, but urges a political solution and urges "respect for the constitutional requirements on using force abroad."
Rep. Lee's office said today that the growing list of the co-signers will be made public in a press release tomorrow afternoon.

The full text of the letter:

MoveOn.org has posted a petition online supporting the text of the letter. As of yesterday afternoon it had more than 10,000 signatures.

Rep. Jones Attacks Obama Request for $500 Million Syrian Rebel Aid

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) issued a release with the above headline June 27. Rep. Jones has consistently campaigned for Congress to assert its moral responsibility for the war powers exclusively guaranteed to it under the U.S. Constitution.
Rep. Jones's release concludes: "Most importantly, any time our military is involved in training foreign fighters in a hostile environment, the chances are high that U.S. lives will be lost and that the situation may escalate. As commander-in-chief, the president should understand that we cannot risk spilling further American blood in yet another unnecessary foreign intervention.
"For each of these reasons, I stand in firm opposition to congressional authorization of the $500 million in aid. I call on my fellow members of the House and Senate to join me in exercising our constitutional right to deny the president's funding request, and I believe that the decision to do so would be in the best interest of our nation."

Buchanan: 'Tell the Imperial President: No More Wars!'

In a nationally syndicated column yesterday, Pat Buchanan demands that Congress deny Obama his request for $500 million to train and arm the Free Syrian Army. He puts the onus particularly on Republicans in Congress who have remained silent:
"... both houses should demand that Obama explain exactly where he gets the constitutional authority to plunge us into what the president himself calls 'somebody else's civil war'....Why are we joining a jihad to overthrow the Syrian government?....
"In training and arming the FSA, we are enlisting in a cause where our foremost fighting allies are Islamists, like those who brought down the twin towers, and a Sunni terrorist army that seeks to bring down the government we left behind in Baghdad...."
"Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he wants no part of Obama's new wars. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine rightly asserts that President Obama has no authority to take us into war in Syria or Iraq...But where are the Republicans?....It is astonishing that Republicans who threaten to impeach Obama for usurping authority at home remain silent as he prepares to usurp their war powers—to march us into Syria and back into Iraq....
"Why, then, are we training Syrians to attack [Assad's] army and arming people to topple his government? Have we not before us, in Libya, an example of what happens when we bring down an autocrat like Gadhafi, and even worse devils are unleashed?....Query: Why are our putative allies aiding our worst enemies?....[W]ho midwifed and breast-fed the ISIS movement that has now proclaimed the new caliphate? Was it not our Turkish and Arab friends?..."