R.I.P. Congresswoman Chenoweth, we should have listened to you!
TheTownCrier
I got the first news of the fatal accident yesterday that took the life of patriot, former congresswoman Helen Chenowith-Hage from a friend who met Helen the about the same time I did.
Helen gave a keynote speech a few years ago, at an event held in Klamath Falls, Oregon,where a lot of good Americans were doing their best to keep the federal government and rabid environmental lawyers from destroying the lives of 1400 farm families and the entire community. Helen and her husband Wayne Hage were there supporting their fellow Americans.
The couple met just months earlier and found love and companionship and common cause and worked tirelessly until Wayne's death of cancer just a few months ago.
We know Helen for her outstanding, outspoken work on property rights, but that wasn't all she was about. America has lost a great leader and friend. These are her words from 1999.
"Consider the case of the southwestern United States, a region referred to as "Aztlan," the mythical homeland of the Aztecs, by such militant groups as the "Brown Berets." Aztlan radicals have announced their intention to conduct la reconquista — the re-conquest — of that region through unrestrained illegal immigration, as well as subversion and violence. It is not difficult to foresee a future scenario in which the "international community" authorizes the use of military force in support of "autonomy" for Aztlan, in the same way that the war in Yugoslavia was launched in support of "autonomy" for an Albanian Muslim-dominated Kosovo."
Our Illegal War
by Congressman Helen Chenoweth
Congress must reclaim its authority
Vol. 15, No. 09April 26, 1999
When the order was given for American military personnel to attack Yugoslavia, it was not issued following a declaration of war from Congress. Nor was the order given by the President as a means of repelling a sudden attack on America by a foreign aggressor, or as a measure intended to rescue Americans abroad from unexpected peril. In fact, the order to attack Yugoslavia didn’t even follow the pattern set in Korea and Vietnam, in which our nation was committed to protracted foreign wars through unilateral presidential action. On March 23rd, the order to commence hostilities was given to an American general by a Spanish Marxist — NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana.
"I have just directed the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, General [Wesley] Clark, to initiate air operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," announced Solana, who insisted that the attack "is intended to support the political aims of the international community." Congress played no role in defining those political aims, which means that the American people — in whose name Congress is empowered to act — were not permitted to play any role in the decision to commit our nation to war.
In the run-up to our war with Yugoslavia, Congress was permitted by its leaders to carry out an impotent charade of debate. On March 11th, the House approved a non-binding resolution endorsing the use of American troops to enforce a peace agreement between the Yugoslav regime of Slobodan Milosevic and secessionist leaders in Yugoslavia’s Kosovo province. On March 23rd, just hours before Solana issued the order to begin the bombing, the Senate approved a resolution supporting the military campaign. But Clinton Administration officials, including the President, had by that time made it clear that while they sought approval of the military action from Congress, they did not consider it necessary for Congress to authorize the military strike on Yugoslavia.
A few senators seemed to understand the constitutional implications of these actions. Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) pointed out, "If we start a massive bombing campaign, we’re going to war." Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) described the prospect of waging an undeclared aggressive war upon Yugoslavia as "a precedent I don’t want to be involved in." Even more pointed were the comments of Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM). "I say shame on the President," declared Domenici, momentarily forgetting that Bill Clinton has repeatedly demonstrated that he is incapable of shame. "If this is such an important matter, why couldn’t [the President] trust the United States Senate and United States House and ask us whether we concur?"
In order to appreciate the depth of the Administration’s deception regarding the war over Kosovo, it is necessary to understand that the war was "authorized" by NATO long before the bombing began on March 24th. The day after the war began, the London Telegraph reported that General Clark, NATO’s supreme military commander, "received his activation order for hostilities last October. The order was the official moment when authority over the forces to be used was transferred to him from the top brass of the member countries supplying them. The supreme commander does not need new permission from politicians or diplomats whenever he wishes to change tactics, or increase or scale back operations." (Emphasis added.).....
In brief, the power to declare war in Kosovo was exercised by NATO Secretary-General Solana; the power to make war was given to NATO’s Supreme Commander; the President of the United States played the role of "selling" the war to the public, and Congress was tacitly told that its duty was to rubber-stamp the decision to take our nation into war, and to authorize payment of the resulting expenses.
"No power but Congress can declare war," observed Daniel Webster in 1846, "but what is the value of this constitutional provision, if the President of his own authority may make such military movements as must bring on war?" The Administration’s actions in committing our country to enforce, through military action, diplomatic initiatives in Kosovo presented Congress with a fait accompli. The only recourse left to Congress was to defund military deployments to which the Administration had previously committed our country — but the political will for that is not evident. Unfortunately, the majority in both houses of Congress have abdicated their responsibility and have acquiesced in the usurpation of their powers. The passivity of the House in allowing Bill Clinton to carry out an illegal war is particularly galling in light of the fact that the same body impeached him last December for much less serious crimes.
"Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object," wrote Abraham Lincoln in 1848. The royal war-making prerogative, which permitted one man to commit his country to war, was regarded by our Founding Fathers "to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions," Lincoln explained. For this reason, the statesmen who gathered at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 "resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us."
In an April 2, 1798 letter to Thomas Jefferson, Madison further elucidated the reasoning behind this careful assignment of powers. "The constitution supposes, what the History of all [governments] demonstrates, that the [executive] is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly, with studied care, vested the question of war in the legislature."
It bears repeating that in the Kosovo war, the role of commander in chief, by the Administration’s own admission, has been assigned to NATO’s Supreme Commander, who exercises (in Hamilton’s words) "the supreme command and direction of the land and naval forces" called into service by Secretary-General Solana. Perhaps, given Mr. Clinton’s own history of "loathing" for the military, personal cowardice, and bottomless corruption, it is of benefit to the morale of American servicemen fighting in Yugoslavia to know that it is General Clark who serves as their commander in chief. Nevertheless, this arrangement gravely undermines the constitutional mechanisms designed to protect our liberties and national sovereignty.......
Under the precedent set in the Kosovo war, America may find itself committed to military intervention in ethnic conflicts around the world. Should we attack Turkey to protect the Kurds, who chafe under Turkish rule? Should we go to war with China in support of independence-minded Tibet? Will U.S. planes attack Sri Lanka in defense of Tamil separatists, or bomb targets in India on behalf of Muslims in Kashmir? The logic of the Kosovo precedent dictates that U.S. troops can be committed to war, without congressional sanction, anywhere in the world where atrocities are captured by the camera lens.
The war on Yugoslavia, we must remember, was brought about by NATO’s demand that Milosevic consent to the foreign occupation of his country by an international army, which would enforce the terms of an agreement intended to grant "autonomy" to ethnic Albanian rebels. When Milosevic refused to permit the occupation, NATO threatened to bomb his country, and ultimately carried out that threat. Once again, the Clinton Administration has been devastatingly candid about key facts. On February 10th, in testimony before the Committee on International Relations, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering confirmed that Kosovo is part of Yugoslavia’s sovereign territory, and that an attack upon Yugoslavia waged because of Milosevic’s refusal to allow foreign intervention would be nothing less than an act of war.
It is a remarkable spectacle to see the Clinton Administration and NATO taking over from the Soviet Union the role of sponsoring "wars of national liberation." More remarkable still, and even more unsettling, is the fact that the beneficiary in the case of Kosovo — the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) — is a collection of Maoist drug-peddlers and terrorists who have been armed by Iran and provided with training and support by Saudi terrorist financier Osama bin Ladin, who is the world’s most notorious sponsor of international terrorism.
A report filed on the same day by Steve Rodan of the World Tribune described how an "autonomous" Kosovo under KLA control could serve as a springboard for Iranian sponsored terrorism throughout Europe and beyond. According to Western European security experts, wrote Rodan, "Iran, Saudi Arabia and some of their terrorist beneficiaries have exploited the fighting to establish a sphere of influence that spans from Greece to the Austrian border." NATO’s willingness to go to war on behalf of Muslim ethnic Albanians in Kosovo could ignite insurrections across Europe, to which the KLA’s terrorist sponsors would eagerly lend support. "The concern of European strategists is that an Iranian sphere of influence would do greater damage to such Western countries as Britain, France and Germany," reported Rodan. "France has about two million Muslims, most of them poor and alienated. Britain has about 1.5 million." A European diplomat told Rodan, "Once these minorities feel that they can obtain the support of NATO, we could see flare-ups everywhere."
We could see "flare-ups" within our own nation as well — and the Kosovo precedent would justify military intervention by the "international community" to settle such conflicts within our own borders. Consider the case of the southwestern United States, a region referred to as "Aztlan," the mythical homeland of the Aztecs, by such militant groups as the "Brown Berets." Aztlan radicals have announced their intention to conduct la reconquista — the re-conquest — of that region through unrestrained illegal immigration, as well as subversion and violence. It is not difficult to foresee a future scenario in which the "international community" authorizes the use of military force in support of "autonomy" for Aztlan, in the same way that the war in Yugoslavia was launched in support of "autonomy" for an Albanian Muslim-dominated Kosovo.
It was our duty to do all of this before deciding whether or not to interrupt "the blessings of peace … by placing the Nation in a State of War." Instead, Congress submitted to the usurpations of a corrupt, impeached President, and made itself complicit in his crimes against our Constitution and our national sovereignty.
Congress can reclaim the powers it has surrendered. Indeed it must, if our descent into tyranny and the erosion of our sovereignty are to be arrested. But this will not happen until a critical mass of public understanding is reached, and informed pressure is brought to bear. The actions of an imperial President can, as Lincoln warned, "bring this oppression upon us" — but only if, through our indifference, we allow those malign designs to flourish. [snips]__________
Former U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage dies in Nevada car crash
Union-Tribune 10/3/2006
CARSON CITY, Nev. – Former U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage, an Idaho Republican who held "endangered salmon bakes" and once accused federal agents of using black helicopter gunships, has died in a car crash, her daughter said. She was 68.
Chenoweth-Hage, whose arch-conservative, often libertarian and sometimes extreme views made her popular with militia movements, was a passenger Monday in a one-car crash near Tonopah, Nev., 172 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said her daughter Meg Chenoweth Keenan.
The Nevada Highway Patrol said Chenoweth-Hage was pronounced dead at the scene. Though other family members were in the car – including the driver, daughter-in-law Yelena Hage, 24, and Hage's 5-month-old son Bryan, no one else was seriously injured.[snip]
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posted by TheTownCrier | 2:54 PM
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