Casus Belli

First, as some seem confused on this point, the United States has not been officially at war since the conclusion of World War II. December, 1941 was the last declaration of war passed by the Congress of the United States. Congress passed an “authorization for the use of force” for Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sooner or later, this reality is going to come before the Supreme Court and all hell is going to break loose. Many of the “special powers” claimed by the Executive are based on an assumption of war or insurrection, and neither condition currently exists as a matter of law. The Shrubbery and Congress colluded to produce this ambiguous situation.

Some people are talking about a military revolt against civilian leadership in the Department of Defense, and that is exactly what is not happening. The complaints are coming from civilians who are former military officers, not military officers. That is how the system works. While in uniform these people couldn’t make their dissatisfaction known outside the military because that would be a military revolt against civilian leadership.

If Rumsfeld didn’t want this fight to break into the open, he should have told Condoleezza Rice to apologize. She declared war on the military on March 31, when she said:

“I believe strongly it was the right strategic decision,” Rice said Friday.

“I know we’ve made tactical errors, thousands of them, I’m sure,” she said in a speech at Blackburn’s Chatham House — a center for independent research on global issues.

That translates to “the civilian leaders had this great plan, but the military screwed up the implementation.”

Look at the timeline. The generals took a week to calm down, then they responded to this direct attack on their professionalism and skill. They were tired of the “few bad apples” excuses for things that obviously were Department of Defense policies. They were tired of lower ranks being scapegoated to protect the Pentagon.