The Current Situation

On Friday 3 January, our very model of a modern stable genius ordered the assassination of the second most powerful person in Iran, General Qassem Suleimani. While Suleimani is little more than a jack-booted murderous thug traveling the Middle East inflicting pain on friends and allies of the US, it counts as an assassination and, therefore, a war crime, but more importantly, it is a needless escalation in the conflict with Iran and could lead to everything from an increase in terrorist attacks to a burgeoning proxy war with Iran to open war with Iran. In spite of the Ol’ Pussy Grabber’s bravado, it will be ugly, costly, and pointless. Just ask Iraq about their experience with war with Iran in the 1980’s. God was that an ugly mother.

Keeping true to form, the administration is now scrambling to create an excuse and justification for taking such a drastic step. There is none, except for distracting from impeachment and the recently release damning email evidence against him, of course. Who in their right mind would impeach a president when the nation is at war? One that realizes the utter futility of keeping a corrupt ass in office who started a pointless war just to distract from his impeachment. It’s called cutting your losses. Once again, the Ol’ Pussy Grabber is proving that if you give him enough rope, he’ll shoot everyone in the dick and blame the Democrats.

To help in this crisis, you should call your MoC — both senators and representative — and tell them that it is time to invoke the War Powers Resolution.

The War Powers Resolution

Background

The Constitution divides war making powers between the Executive and Legislative branches of our government, you know, so some idiot of a president facing a difficult impeachment proceeding couldn’t go off and start a war to distract from he trial and make his re-election more likely. That’s called a balance of powers. It’s what makes our government work and makes it inherently centerist — get over it purests; that’s how it is intended to work. You don’t like it, get more like minded people elected to office.

The executive, otherwise known as the president, is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He can order them about as he will. The military is constrained by law to only follow lawful orders. They can refuse unlawful ones. However, Congress is given the ability to declare war. Back in the old days of the Founding Fathers no one could conceive of fighting a war without having first declared one because we didn’t have a standing army that a president could just order into action!

Now that we have a standing army, way back in 1973, Congress decided to clarify procedures in which a president could order the US military into hostile situation abroad. This was a direct result of the slow escalation in Viet Nam and the lie that brought us the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and allowed el BJ to go all in on Viet Nam. Congress decided that they didn’t want that to happen no more, so the writ up this law and passed it over Nixon’s veto.

The Parts

The law is set up in several parts:

Part one establishes the reasons for having the law in the first place: making war is serious business and the collective wisdom of Congress and the Executive is needed, so the President can only play Commander-in-Chief once a declaration of war has been passed by Congress or the US has been attacked. Of course, in the current situation, the Ol’ Pussy Grabber will claim that the assault on the US embassy in Baghdad is an attack on the US since embassies are considered the territory of the country they represent. But, by Friday, that situation had been resolved and stabilized, so why escalate it? Oh, yeah, the Ol’ Pussy Grabber needs a favor, though.

Part two requires a President to consult Congress before deploying the armed forces to places where hostilities are occurring or are imminent. That seems reasonable. You know like consulting with Congress before assassinating a major figure in a country that we’re having a major conflict with in a region that is fraught with tensions and has at least two shooting wars going on, but, of course, the Ol’ Pussy Grabber didn’t consult with Congress — at least not the Dem leaders of Congress, maybe, the Repubes, but they ain’t saying — but he did consult with his son Liddle’ Ewik who promptly tweeted about it, we’re presuming, was chastised for it, and deleted the tweet. Luckily, the interwebs are forever.

Part three outlines the requirements a President must meet when reporting to Congress and can require a 60 day time limit on the use of US forces.

Part four stipulates that armed forces be withdrawn from hostilities 60 days after a President reports or is required to report on their deployment to Congress unless Congress explicitly extends their deployment like in the way the Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq 2002 has been used ever since to justify deployments of military forces ranging from Afghanistan to Somalia and probably will be invoked here since the ballless wonder that is our Congress won’t revoke it or demand a new one — that’s where you come in, see below.

Part four also requires a President to withdraw military force at any time Congress directs it. Again, this is where you come in.

Call Your Members of Congress

Call your senators and representative and tell them that they must do these things:

1. Tell them to support these bills:
   • HR 2456, To repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002: It is sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Ca, 13) and has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
   • S.J.Res.13, A joint resolution to repeal the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq, and for other purposes: It is sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va) and has been read twice. Currently, it is bottled up in the Committee on Foreign Relations.
2. Require the Ol’ Pussy Grabber to withdraw the 82nd airborne division, which is being deployed to Iraq, in 60 days — that beginning of March.
3. Keep the Ol’ Pussy Grabber on a short leash with military deployments. He has proven himself to be lawless and reckless.

The Script

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [NAME OF AREA].

I’m calling to express my support for [House: HR 2456 / Senate: SJ Res 13] to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. It is time to end this overly broad and outdated authorization and reintroduce appropriate congressional oversight to fight terrorism and wage war, especially with the recent events in Iraq with regard to Iran.

In addition, Congress must require that the President submit a report on the reasons for deployment of all troops to Iraq or other areas at this time and request their withdrawal after 60 days of the time the report should have been submitted.

Thank you for all your hard work answering the phones.

IF LEAVING A VOICEMAIL: Please leave your full street address to ensure your call is tallied.

Tips for Calling

When you call your representative’s office, please remember the following:

• Ask for the aide working on the policy-related issues.
• Be polite! No matter whose office you’re calling. No matter what their positions are. No matter how inflamed you are about the issue — and you should be very passionate — be polite.
• Remember that the people you are talking to are people! So, be nice.
• Call during business hours of the area code their office is in. Typically, that is 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
• Have a script or notes to follow so you don’t forget anything.
• Maybe call with friends. You know like a party.

Contacting Your MoC

Find out how to contact your MoC using these links!

• Common Cause will give you the names, party affiliation, direct phone number, website link, and social media platforms of all of your federal, state, and local elected officials.
• Call My Congress: Uses your zip code to locate your Congressional Representative and your Senators. And, it returns phone numbers, tweeter handle, party affiliation, voting record, and link to C-Span appearances!
• 5 Calls: Sign-up for 5 Calls because they help you contact your member of Congress and keep you abreast of on going issues that are important to you! Now, that is a good deal.
• The Capital Hill Switch Board: (202) 224-3121.
• MassacreMitch and #MoscowMitch: (202) 224-2541. Call him throughout the recess!
• Nancy Pelosi: Her DC office, (202) 225-4965; her California office, (415) 556-4862

Join Indivisible

Follow the link to Indivisible to find a group near you, their campaigns, events in your neighborhood, and download their handy-dandy booklet!