War & law quiz for presidential candidates

[dweller]

Braun, Edwards, Kerry, Kucinich, Sharpton split on legality of war acts

Five presidential candidates answering a questionnaire on war and law disagree on whether they might
initiate hostilities without congressional approval. They vary also on the legality of preventive war, use of nuclear
weapons, termination of treaties, and the three wars since 1999.

While recognizing Congress’s constitutional power to declare war, Senators John Edwards (D-NC) and
John Kerry (D-Mass.) believe that a president sometimes may take military action on his own in the national
interest. But former Senator Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.) says the Constitution allows only Congress to decide
whether to initiate war. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and the Rev. Al Sharpton would first have Congress
declare war prior to hostilities.

Edwards believes that a president may “deploy the military when it serves the best interests of the country
and our interests abroad....” And Kerry says in national emergencies a president may act quickly to prevent loss
of life or defend national security interests. But Braun, Kucinich, and Sharpton want Congress to make such
decisions.

The San Francisco-based Presidential Candidate Survey sent all of them identical questions. It likewise
queried President George W. Bush and Democrats Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, Rep. Richard Gephardt, and
Senator Joseph Lieberman -- none of whom have replied.


full story here

apologies if this has been posted before, didn't appear in a search. But it's important information all the same.
Full statements, and answers to the questionnaire appear at the bottom of the article.

peace,
dp

[lcordero]

1. there are no "american interests abroad"

corporate interests are not american interests.
Corporate interests always go against real American interests since by corporates going abroad they take food off of American tables, put Americans out in the street, and get Americans killed.

Presidents should not even be allowed to deploy troops overseas.

[dweller]

2. this is the most boring of all threads, right?

otherwise i'd not be
:kick: 'n it.

peace,
dp

[Mairead]

3. I find Edwards's response quite frightening.

Under that polished, trial-lawyerly aw-shucks demeanor, he's a disturbingly conservative man. I suspect he'd do another Clinton on us: sell us down the river while smiling and telling us that he's really one of us.