“It is illegal under international law and illegal under the Constitution,” Napolitano told his colleague. “You can use military force to attack somebody that attacked you or you can use military force to attack one that is about to attack you. Neither of those apply with respect to Syria.” He added that, however, a country may legally use military force to enforce international norms when authorized to do so by the United Nations — a situation which has not happened here.
Napolitano also noted for Smith that, technically speaking, “the president can start any war he wants, against anybody he wants for 90 days and nothing congress can do about it” under the War Powers Act. However, he added, that law is unconstitutional.
“If
“So if they do this, we have committed a war crime,” Smith asserted.
Napolitano agreed, adding that, in the event we strike Syria, there will be no way of stopping the United States. “No judge is going to stop this; no one is going to prosecute the president,” the judge said. “The American people don’t want this to happen; our allies in the region don’t want this to happen. Who wants this to happen besides John Kerry and the president?”
The judge concluded by suggesting that any president can become “lawless” when they have a powerful military at their disposal. “No one seems to care about the law here,” he said. “They just seem to care about politics. Congress lets the president start a war; the president doesn’t care what international law says. He wants to be vindicated politically.”
Watch the segment below, via Fox News:
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