Unilateral War Power Analysis

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Does the President have unilateral war powers? The age old question is does the president have unilateral war powers? John C.Yoo, a professor at University of California Berkeley argues that the language of the constitution sates that the in a crisis situation to have speedy action, the president has the power to declare war to ensure the safety of America. Michael Cairo, from "The 'Imperial Presidency' argues that the founders never wanted the president to have all power. They wanted to have distributed power throughout each branch. On the yes side, John C.Yoo argues that the president has inherent powers to guard against conflict in America. In Article II section 8 of the U.S. Constitution states that “The president shall be commander…show more content…
Yes, the President has unilateral war powers in political reality (he does not have it according to the letter of the law). As Commander-In-Chief, the President can order troops into any incursion for any reason; this later can be reclassified as a Black Op and kept secret, presented to Congress as an Act of War, or labeled as 'Peacekeeping' or termed a 'Police Action'. The authority of this action can then be authorized via Executive Order or Signing Statement - and used to circumvent constitutional law, procedure, or the separation of powers. This is partially how George W. Bush has been getting around Congress. Since the troops have to go in first, all Congress can do is cut off the funding. While actual, legal war powers remain with the legislative branch, what are they actually going to do once troops are already in place and a battle is being fought? How can they recall a bomb that has been dropped? Short of an action so illegal that the President is -later- impeached, Congress can do nothing in the present; "command-and-control" remains with the Commander-In-Chief. To quote Richard Nixon, "The President can bomb anybody he
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