Pretzel Logic

Impeachment seems to be slipping through their fingers, Nancy Pelosi has abandoned them on defunding the war in Iraq. Even their last hope, Barack Obama admits that maybe he won’t pull troops out of Iraq as soon as everyone hoped. So what’s the Left to do? Well, it seems they’re trying to rally State governments in order to stop augmenting our armed forces with National Guard troops. Several organizations link to a central page at Liberty Tree which touts itself as a “Foundation for the Democratic Revolution” and another named Peace Action. This whole movement seems to have started in the most logical of places – Vermont.

This campaign began earliest in Vermont, and it is in Vermont that the effort has made the most progress. The Vermont Senate held hearings on the legislation last month. The Vermont public is debating the issue. Media outlets from the Topeka Capital Journal to CBS national news to the Houston Chronicle have covered the debate. For the first time, Americans are becoming aware of the illegality of National Guard deployments to Iraq. The Vermont debate is educating all of us; we are learning that:

* The President may only call the Guard into National Service after Congress has granted him/her that authority; otherwise, the Guard remain under the command of state officials.
* The 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq (2002 AUMF) was the act of Congress under which National Guard call ups for deployment to Iraq have occurred until now.
* The 2002 AUMF set a clear mission for the invasion of Iraq, and that mission is over. Saddam Hussein and Iraq are no long a threat to the United States or the region (if they ever were), and the UN Security Council resolutions on which the 2002 AUMF was based are no longer relevant.
* Some state elected officials are willing to stand up and defend the constitutional guarantee of a federal government of limited and enumerated powers, a military designed for national defense and not empire, and a government of laws and not of men!

I think the most amazing part of this whole thing is that they admit finally that Congress authorized the use of force – their main argument for impeachment. They also admit that there was a UN resolution that authorized the US to intervene in Iraq. How can they simultaneously argue that neither exists while arguing that both exist?

Their Facebook page brags they have 209 members, including members of IVAW.

They also claim affiliation with several peace organizations;

Participating national organizations: AfterDowningStreet.org, Cities for Peace, CODEPINK, Courage to Resist, LIBERTY TREE Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, Military Families Speak Out, Peace Action, U.S. Labor Against the War, Women Legislator’s Lobby, Women’s Action for New Directions . . . .

However, the link they had for Code Pink went to a website that features travel tips for women, so I don’t know how familiar they are with any of these organizations.

Apparently they’ve hornswaggled New York State Senators Bill Perkins and Eric Adams into believing this could be productive. There’s a YouTube video which appears to be filmed in Times Square featuring Matthew Chiroux of the IVAW and Tom Siracuse of the Veterans For Peace. I don’t know how much of a wanted criminal Chiroux is, but it seems to me that if the FBI or the military wanted to catch him, they only need to set up microphone up in front of some media types and they’d have him in no time.

The Peace and Justice Coalition of New Jersey has also found some dupes to introduce legislation to defederalize the National Guard in New Jersey;

Just like everything else they do, the Left has based it’s legal arguments on articles in the Constitution that don’t exist in specific language;

All of this is already coming to light with a simple legislative push that doesn’t even challenge the unconstitutionality of the war itself, or challenge the deployment of the Guard for purposes other than those spelled out in the Constitution. All this legislation says is, “Federal government, we’re not even telling you that your laws are unconstitutional, we’re just insisting that you to obey your own laws.” Is that such a radical thing to ask? Let’s find out.

What the Constitution says about the National Guard (Militia) and Congress;

(Art. 1, Sec. 9)

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

What the Constitution says about the National Guard and the President;

(Art. 2, Sec 2)

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;

Nothing Congress or the President is doing contradicts the Constitution. Surprise. Of course, this is just another way for the Left to demoralize the American people with their lies and misinformation…and apparently the northeast liberal politicians are more than willing to undermine our national security by participating in this scam.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Code Pink, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Liberals suck, Phony soldiers, Politics, Terror War