Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, of Massachusetts, will
introduce a measure aimed at retracting the wide latitude Congress
gave to President Bush earlier this year in using military force
against Iraq.
Congress was wrong to give Bush the right to attack Iraq at
will. Many still question the resolution’s constitutionality
given only Congress has the power to declare war, which is what
Bush can now essentially do. But Kennedy’s resolution comes a
little too late. Republicans have control of Congress now and
there’s little chance any of them will throw their career
down the drain in opposing Bush on the Iraq issue.
The Democrats have only themselves to blame for allowing
Congress to give Bush more power. Some senators, such as John Kerry
(D-Ma) who now have reservations about how Bush is handling Iraq,
voted to give him military leeway in the first place. Given the
president’s high approval ratings last year, Democrats feared
the political backlash they’d receive if they opposed a
popular foreign policy.
Even though a retractive resolution would fail, Democrats should
still introduce it to Congress. If anything, it will place more
pressure on Bush to make his case for war known; he doesn’t
have a stranglehold on both political parties.