Death Watch in the Persian Gulf and Washington

By Dave Lindorff
Created Jan 17 2007 - 9:19am

Watching the slow-motion march to war against Iran is a bit like watching a
terminal cancer patient in a hospice. We know how it's going to end. We know
it's going to be tragic and ugly. But we are powerless to stop it.

There is a difference of course.

For the cancer patient, there really is no alternative.

For us, there is an alternative to the catastrophe which President Bush and
his regent, Dick Cheney, are preparing for us all.

We could rise up as a nation and demand that our elected representatives
pass a Boland-type amendment banning any use of the military in Iraq. We
could demand that a resolution be passed revoking the 2002 Authorization for
Use of Military Force against Iraq. We could demand the revocation of the
2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force which the president has
improperly cited as giving him extra-Constitutional powers. And we could
demand that Congress tell the president and vice president that if they
attack Iran without explicit congressional authorization they will both be
immediately impeached.