A serious question about this "bombing"

[Ferrets are Cool]

What gives "America" the right to send a missile into another country and assassinate ANYONE without a declaration of war? I do realized there will be no consequences IF this is not legal because a dictator can do whatever he want, but I would still like to know the answer.

[Firestorm49]

1. What gives the president sole authority to engage in an act of war....

without congressional notification?

Telling Lindsey Graham while playing golf hardly qualifies, but then again, this guy isn’t too bright.

[Bettie]

2. I'd like to know this too

Also: would he have done this if the guy had been in Germany or France or is this a special case becasue Iraq has no sovereignty in their country?

I'm appalled at the number of people here on DU who think this is not only OK, but a good thing. Apparently, there are a lot more fans of endless war among us than I'd thought.

[C_U_L8R]

3. No it's not normal

It's a war crime. Even though this was some supposed bad guy, it's still a war crime.

[CabalPowered]

4. We asked Iraq for permission for the other strike last week

There has been no indication that such a request preceded this strike, but I seriously doubt it.

[Bev54]

6. Are you sure about that?

My understanding was that Iraq was pissed that the US had not gotten permission for that attack and now with this, they may well kick the US out of their country, thus turning it over to Iran or Russia.

[CabalPowered]

8. No, I'm wrong

My bad.

[Bev54]

11. No problem, it happens, wasn't sure if i heard it correctly

[Thomas Hurt]

5. Over the last several decades the Congress has abdicated their war declaration powers.

We don't declare wars anymore.

[onenote]

7. We've been doing it for quite a while

Including during the Obama administration.

[gratuitous]

9. Indeed we have

And I protested when the Obama administration did it just like I protested when the Bush administrations, the Clinton administration, and the Reagan administration did it, too.

It doesn't matter who's carrying out these war crimes, they're still war crimes, even if we really, really, really don't like the target of our extra-legal attacks, whether it's Osama bin Laden or anyone luckless enough to be in the vicinity of our target. That's the whole idea behind being a nation of laws. The law is supposed to bind and guide a country even when it's inconvenient or doesn't feel good.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. Yes, they are war crimes, no matter WHO orders them to be carried out.

Imagine the FUCKING OUTRAGE if a country, any country, did this to America. Oh wait, they did in 2001 and we are still not over it. But if we do it to another country, it's just fine and dandy. Makes me SICK.