Will Grigg's Liberty Minute

August 24, 2007

Writing in 1792, James Madison observed: ?The Constitution supposes ... that the executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care, vested the question of war in the legislature.?

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Congress enacted a measure permitting the president to use military force against any country or entity he determined was engaged in terrorism. Few noticed at the time that this measure ? known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force ? amounted to a wholesale abdication by Congress of its exclusive constitutional authority to commit our nation to war.

In recent weeks the Bush administration has made clear its intention to classify the Iranian Revolutionary Guard ? an army of some 125,000 troops ? as a terrorist entity. This would provide the administration with a long-sought rationale for military action against Iran.

Congress must repeal the post-9-11 Authorization before the administration takes the back door to war with Iran.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.