- BOSTON (UPI) -- A lawsuit
filed in federal court in Boston Thursday seeks to prevent President Bush
from going to war against Iraq without congressional approval.
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- A coalition including six House members, several U.S.
soldiers and parents of servicemen claims only Congress has that power
under the Constitution.
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- "We have a message for President Bush today. Read
the Constitution," John Bonifaz, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, said
at a news conference announcing the suit.
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- "A war against Iraq without a congressional declaration
of war will be illegal and unconstitutional," he said. "It is
time for the courts to intervene."
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- The representatives joining the suit, all Democrats,
are John Conyers of Michigan, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, James McDermott
of Washington, Jose Serrano of New York, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and
Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois.
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- The U.S. Attorney's office said it had no comment on
the suit.
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- The plaintiffs asked for a preliminary injunction against
the president and for a hearing on their request that Bush be barred from
launching a military invasion against Iraq without a congressional declaration
of war.
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- The lawsuit cites Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution,
which reads: "Congress shall have power... (to) declare war."
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- The suit argues the resolution on Iraq that Congress
passed in October did not declare war and unlawfully ceded the decision
to Bush.
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- The suit contends the framers of the Constitution sought
to ensure that U.S. presidents would not have the power of European monarchs
of the past to wage war.
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- "The Founding Fathers did not establish an imperial
presidency with war-making power," Conyers said. "The Constitution
clearly reserves that for Congress."
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- "The president is not a king," said Charles
Richardson, a plaintiff whose Marine son is stationed in the Persian Gulf.
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- "If he wants to launch a military invasion against
Iraq, he must first seek a declaration of war from the United States Congress.
Our Constitution demands nothing less," Richardson said.
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- Richardson and two other plaintiffs -- Nancy Lessin and
Jeffrey McKenzie -- are co-founders of Military Families Speak Out, an
organization of people opposed to war against Iraq and who have family
in the military.
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- "A full and complete congressional discussion of
the issues and all options must precede any move towards war," Lessin
said, "because of the irreparable harm that would result."
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- At the news conference, Lessin said she worried about
her son, Joe, a Marine stationed in the Gulf.
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- "We worry about Joe," she said. "We don't
want him to be wounded or die. We don't want him to be forced to wound
or kill innocent Iraqi civilians. That would kill part of him and part
of us."
- Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International
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- Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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