UVA prof testifies on Bush’s behalf
UVA Law professor Robert Turner was one of five witnesses who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday to try to sort through the ramifications of President Bush’s pronouncement that decisions about war policy are his domain, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Four out of five of them testified that Bush had overstepped his bounds, leaving Turner as Bush’s only supporter. And not afraid to use a famous Bushism.
�In the conduct of war and foreign affairs, the president is, in fact, the decider,” said Turner. “Once Congress raises an army, it’s his to command.”
In the near future, Congress is expected to consider a non-binding resolutions opposing Bush’s plans to increase the number of troops stationed in Iraq, and a more extreme option could have them cutting the necessary funding. In a near-miss of Godwin’s Law, Turner countered that similar tactics are what gave rise to the Khmer Rouge, the bloodthirsty regime of Cambodian military dictator Pol Pot.
The entire brouhaha, which also includes a healthy amount of Republican dissent, indicates growing dissatisfaction on Capitol Hill over the current administration’s war strategies. “If Congress doesn’t stop this war,” said Judiciary Committee chair Russ Feingold, “it’s not because it doesn’t have the power. It’s because it doesn’t have the will.”
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