[ALBSA-Info] NYTimes.com Article: Why Congress Has to Ask Questions

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Why Congress Has to Ask Questions

March 12, 2002 

By ROBERT C. BYRD


 

WASHINGTON - Do members of Congress have any business
questioning a president's military strategy in the midst of
war? That was the question swirling around Capitol Hill
last week. In the heat of debate, some went so far as to
insinuate that any questioning of a wartime president is
divisive and unpatriotic. 

What dangerous nonsense this is. Congress not only has the
right to question a president's policies, but also the
duty. In a war, the American people have every right to a
full accounting of what their sons and daughters are
fighting for and what their government expects to achieve.
To question is not to accuse or to condemn. To question is
to seek the truth. The less forthcoming a president is, the
more Congress will have to probe for answers. Such is the
current situation. 

In the wake of Sept. 11, President Bush declared all-out
war on terrorism. Money is no object; time is no deterrent.
We will win this war, the president vowed. We will hunt
down and destroy the terrorists. 

Those words constitute a sweeping manifesto. I support the
president's commitment, but as a senator, I have a
responsibility to look beyond the rhetoric. How will we win
this war? What are the costs? What are our objectives? What
are the standards by which we measure victory? How long
will we be in Afghanistan? Where else will we go? 

The Constitution states that the president shall be
commander in chief, but it is Congress that has the
constitutional authority to provide for the common defense
and general welfare, to raise and support armies, and to
declare war. In other words, Congress has a constitutional
responsibility to weigh in on war-related policy decisions.


Yet in this war on terrorism, Congress, by and large, has
been left to learn about major war-related decisions
through newspaper articles. One day we hear that American
military advisers are heading to the Philippines. Another
day we read that military personnel may go into the former
Soviet republic of Georgia. The next day we are sending
advisers into Yemen. And, oh yes, we also learn from news
reports that we have a shadow government in our own
backyard, composed of unknown bureaucrats, up and running
at undisclosed locations, for an indeterminate length of
time. 

Is it any wonder that members of Congress are beginning to
question whether the administration is deliberately leaving
Congress in the dark - or whether the administration is
making major policy decisions on the fly, without taking
time for due consideration or consultation? Neither
scenario is comforting. And while the administration has
started to meet with some members of Congress, it appears
to be more in reaction to criticism than in genuine
cooperation and consultation. 

Last Wednesday, the remains of seven American servicemen
killed in combat in Afghanistan were brought home to Dover
Air Force Base. The ceremony was a somber and chilling
reminder of what is involved in prosecuting America's war
on terror. It was a reminder that the waging of war is not
merely a matter of political debate. It is a matter of guns
and bullets and bombs and bloodshed. It is a matter of
committing our sons and daughters to a life-and-death
struggle. 

The loss of American lives in Afghanistan requires that we
question the president's wartime policies, no matter how
uncomfortable the questioning may be. We owe that to the
Americans who have died, and who will die, in the course of
what may be a long and murky war. 


Robert C. Byrd is a Democratic senator for West
Virginia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/12/opinion/12BYRD.html?ex=1016968364&ei=1&en=9eb514f3642c311c



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