BOMBS AWAY!….Matt Yglesias:
It was brought to my attention recently that Reps. De Fazio and and Hinchey offered an amendment to the 2007 Pentagon appropriations bill that would have specifically barred the administration from launching a military attack on Iran without congressional authorization. 158 members of the House voted for it, but 262 voted against and it failed. In other words, a majority of the House seems to have gone on record in favor of letting the president start wars illegally, a fairly discouraging development.
Actually, it’s probably worse than that. I have little doubt that the legal wizards in the Vice President’s office will argue that, in fact, this vote is actually a specific authorization for a military strike against Iran. After all, if Congress weren’t in favor, they would have explicitly said so. Right?
