Bush agreement with Iraq violates US constitution

[Ah Xoc Kin]

Sep. 10, 2008
Determined to shape his own legacy in Iraq, President Bush has cut Congress out of his negotiations with the Maliki government. Despite repeated requests, the Administration has refused to share with congressional committees the text of its negotiating draft, even on a confidential basis.

But elements of the proposals under negotiation have steadily leaked out from the Iraqi side, and now an Arabic-language newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, has published what it says is the full draft agreement.

The draft agreement published by Asharq Al-Awsat would clearly contravene the U.S. Constitution.

The President can't unilaterally surrender his command over the military to somebody else, and tell the troops to treat this outsider as commander-in-chief. The authority he has as commander-in-chief is not his to transfer.

The published draft agreement violates this bedrock principle by creating a joint U.S.-Iraq committee and giving it, not the President, the authority to coordinate military operations, to resolve operational disputes, and even to "determine the tasks and level of the troops that will focus on training and supporting Iraqi security forces."

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1840274,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-full-nation

[Muttocracy]

1. well, that's going to anger Biden in the extreme, and not because he's VP

but because of the Constitutional violation. Anyone remember him telling off Ambassador Crocker about this in April? Something along the lines of you have to do much more than tell the Congress what you're doing, you have to ask the Senate's permission.

last paragraph of the Time article you cited:

"As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, has co-sponsored legislation demanding that the Administration submit the Iraq agreement for congressional approval. Now that he is the Democratic nominee for Vice President, he should take the initiative and reach out to Senator John McCain, who understands perfectly the questions of principle at stake. Both Democratic and Republican candidates should join together to make it clear that, whoever wins the election, the next President will put the Constitution first in his dealings with Congress."

[MichiganVote]

2. Globalism at work.