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Bush Exceeded the Authority of HJR114
In October 2002, Congress passed House Joint Resolution 114, which gave Bush limited authority relating to Iraq. Here is a complete text of the bill. HJR114 has been described as legal justification for Bush's invasion of Iraq but that is not the case.
HJR114 authorized Bush to use military force against Iraq "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" but required that he meet certain conditions. Bush did not meet these conditions. In addition the entire resolution should be rejected because Congress was misled into signing it in the first place.
Basic Assumptions were Flawed
HJR114 begins with a series of "whereas" clauses. These give the reasons that Congress signed the resolution. Unfortunately, the most critical of these "whereas" clauses are based on fraudulent misrepresentations by Bush and Cheney.
Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;
We now know that Iraq did not have WMD and was not seeking nuclear capabilities. Bush knew this at the time and deliberately misled Congress about the threat from Iraq.
Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq;
Bush and Cheney tried very hard to connect Iraq with 9/11 and Al Qaeda but there was simply no credible evidence. "Today's reports show that the administration's repeated allegations of a past, present and future relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq were wrong and intended to exploit the deep sense of insecurity among Americans in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks," said Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, the panel's ranking Democrat. [ABC]
Congress did not have access to the same information that Bush had. If they had then it is unlikely that they would have signed HJR114. It is called fraud in the inducement "if the party signing the document knew what he or she was signing, but relied on misrepresentations when induced to sign it."
Basically Bush tricked Congress into signing HJR114 by fraudulent means which negated his authority to invade Iraq.
Violation of Requirement for Determination
Bush also violated several terms of the resolution. The first violation relates to Section 3(b), which states:
"In connection with the exercise of the authority granted in subsection (a) to use force the President shall ... make available ... his determination that—
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq;"
If Bush had told the truth about Iraq then he would have said Iraq did not pose a threat to America. In that case "diplomatic or other peaceful means" would have given us adequate protection.
Bush accused Saddam Hussein of violating the UN Security Council resolutions by not revealing the presence of his WMD. Bush then invaded Iraq without permission from the Security Council. It then became apparent that Iraq did not have WMD. Ironically, therefore, Bush violated the UN resolutions and Iraq did not.
Because Bush did not fulfill his obligation to truthfully show the need for the invasion, he did not have authority under HJR114 to invade Iraq.
Violation of War Powers Resolution
The second violation relates to Section 3(c)(2), which states:
"Nothing in this joint resolution supersedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution."
This means Bush cannot ignore the War Powers Resolution of 1973 when determining what is "necessary and appropriate". So what does the War Powers Resolution say about this? Section 9(d)(1) states:
(d) Nothing in this joint resolution--What existing treaties address the issue of attacking other nations? Two immediately come to mind: the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Charter.(1) is intended to alter the constitutional authority of the Congress or of the President, or the provision of existing treaties; or
The Nuremberg Charter says that it is a crime to plan a war of aggression. Many people believe that Bush is the aggressor in this situation. Iraq has made no threats or attacks against the United States. They have simply built weapons to defend themselves from attack. They are also cooperating, albeit begrudgingly, with the United Nations. Bush, on the other hand, has surrounded Iraq with a huge military force and has threatened to destroy Saddam Hussein and much of Iraq in the process. Bush has also labeled the UN as irrelevant.
The UN Charter states that "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means...". War can be used but only as a last resort and only under the direction of the UN Security Council.
Bush attacked Iraq based on false pretenses and without UN permission. He, therefore, violated the UN Charter, the Nuremberg Charter, HJR114, and indirectly the Constitution. These are grounds for impeachment.
Additional Information
Lynn Woolsey has sponsored legislation to repeal HJRes 114.
See whether your representatives voted to abdicate their war powers to Bush.- Senate votes for HJR114
- "Accountability for an illegal war?" further analysis of HJR114 and War Powers Act by D. Lindley Young, 1/14/2005
