The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not -- we will not -- travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.
— Barack Obama's Iraq Speech
The 'shock and awe' bombing of Iraq in 2003.
The resolution authorized President Bush to use the Armed Forces of the United States "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" in order to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution
x YouTube Video There were serious legal questions surrounding the launching of the war against Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war in general. On 16 September 2004, Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said of the invasion, "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of view, from the Charter point of view, it was illegal.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War
How could we get here?
How could the US illegally invade Iraq?
Who could authorize such an act?
How could we go on to be responsible for the deaths of millions of innocents?
How did this happen?
x YouTube Video Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2002/h455https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/107-2002/s237Since the Korean War of the early 1950s, waging such a war of aggression is a crime under the customary international law. ...
Wars without international legality (e.g. not out of self-defense nor sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council) can be considered wars of aggression; however, this alone usually does not constitute the definition of a war of aggression; certain wars may be unlawful but not aggressive (a war to settle a boundary dispute where the initiator has a reasonable claim, and limited aims, is one example).
The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, called the waging of aggressive war "essentially an evil thing...to initiate a war of aggression...is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_aggression
...the techniques chronicled by Lasswell, developed in the early decades of the 20th century, are still used at the dawn of the 21st. While we obscure their enduring power by calling them"spin" or"PR," rather than"propaganda," the methods used to mobilize populations in 1914 to 1918, to support a war that was fought for obscure reasons and that left tens of millions dead, are quite familiar to anyone who has lived through the buildup to the invasion of Iraq. The issue … the continuing implications for democracy of the techniques used by governments to mobilize populations for war.
— A. Williams, a professor in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/4606
x YouTube VideoThe fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_principles#Principle_III
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:
(a) Crimes against peace:
(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_principles#Principle_VI
x YouTube VideoIn early 2003, the Iraq Resolution was challenged in court to stop the invasion from happening. The plaintiffs argued that the President does not have the authority to declare war. The final decision came from a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit which dismissed the case. Judge Lynch wrote in the opinion that the Judiciary cannot intervene unless there is a fully developed conflict between the President and Congress or if Congress gave the President "absolute discretion" to declare war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution
It has never happened in history that a nation that has won a war has been held accountable for atrocities committed in preparing for and waging that war.
— Ramsey Clark, U.S. Attorney General in the administration of Lyndon Johnson.
http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrime.htm
x YouTube VideoI know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
— Barack Obama's Iraq SpeechThis is not a newly found issue for me. I have written over 200 diaries here at Daily Kos going back to 2004 about the consequences of the illegal pre-emptive Iraq War. It is, more than anything else, the reason I am at Daily Kos: to convince others this war machine has got to be stopped.
Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War Resolution. Hillary Clinton voted for it. The U.S. and the world are continuing to pay the price. My choice for Democratic Presidential nominee is clear.
x YouTube VideoSo many Democrats at the time were arguing that the Iraq war was illegal and GWB was a war criminal. Now all is forgiven? We can make one of his co-conspirators the Democratic nominee for President? I hope we can do better than that.
Elsewhere I pointed out that I would have to change my principles to vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election. This diary attempts to explain my position.
Elect Bernie Sanders.