Robert H. Jackson Quotes
No one will question that this power [the war power] is the most dangerous one to free government in the whole catalogue of powers.
Robert Houghwout Jackson, 1892-1954, Chief Prosecutor, Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, U. S. Attorney General (Democrat), U. S. Supreme Court Justice, Woods v. Miller, 1948
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In 1949 the NATO treaty was signed. There was concern that a phrase in the treaty authorizing signatories to take "such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force" would undermine Congress's powers:
The president did not act purely on his own. The operation in Libya was a NATO operation, not a U. S. operation. All NATO countries unanimously approved the enforcement of the No Fly zone and it was approved by the Security Council of the United Nations, Technically the operation was not war. NATO and the United States was asked to support the no fly zone by the Government of Libya which we and the other countries all recognized at the time. However, since the later part of the 19th century, America has debated exactly who and under what conditions can commit U. S. Troops to hostilities. The prerogatives of Congress in the war powers debate have eroded to the Presidency in the last 2 centuries and some, like Paul feel that the older balance should be restored.
President Eisenhower was asked if there was any danger of the country getting inadvertently drawn into a war in Vietnam as the result of sending military "advisors":
An earlier version was written by Congressman Louis L. Ludlow, 1873-1950—see his quotation about it—{39681}. The proposed amendment was narrowly defeated.
President George W. Bush initiated an invasion of Iraq based on the fact that Iraq was developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. After the invasion however, there were none of these weapons found and much evidence that there were not any at that point in time. By the time Congress, the body which is supposed to declare war, found out that the reason for the war was bogus, it was too late. We had already occupied the country and were in the midst of a civil war. The President either acted on bad intelligence or wanted to invade Iraq for other reasons and history may finally tell us which, but Fein sees the problem as too much secrecy in the executive branch.
Robert Houghwout Jackson was an American attorney and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He had previously served as United States Solicitor General and United States Attorney General, and is the only person to have held all three of those offices. Jackson was also notable for his work as Chief United States Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II.
