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Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by BartjeD on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:11AM (#44343879)
Bombing another country is literally a declaration of war. With explosions.

Isn't an act of congress required for this, in the US?

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by riffraff on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:14AM (#44343897)
Countries stopped doing declarations of war decades ago, cause you know, war is not something _we_ do, it's something bad people do.

_We_ do special operations, interventions, liberations, preventive strikes, weapon destructions.

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by karmakurtisaani on Sunday June 22, 2025 @03:07AM (#44344607)
And then you make movies on how you were the good guys, and that's how we all will remember it.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by whilenot-dev on Sunday June 22, 2025 @03:40AM (#44344795)
I'm all for a collective change there, so every foreign movie just ends in the same deus ex machina moment: every protagonist gets bombed out of existence. Might get repetitive after a while, but I guess that's the idea.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by jiggawatts on Sunday June 22, 2025 @03:07AM (#44344602)
Also the enemy is always a guerrilla, terrorist, or a rebel and works for a regime, dictator, or king.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by xdennis on Monday June 23, 2025 @02:08AM (#44352875)
Part of the reason why countries stopped declaring war is because the laws of war make it harder to do so, so it's easier to have a war without one. Also, declaring war on certain groups would entitle them to being treated as war combatants, and people don't want to extend that privilege to terrorists (al Qaeda, ISIS, etc)
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by IceHegel on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:21AM (#44343924)
Any reasonable understanding of the term "war" obviously includes bombing a country's strategic military sites.

Today Congressmen's main job is soliciting bribes. I expect they want their name on as few pieces of paper connecting them to a conflict as possible. They are not in charge of the government.

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by GuardianCaveman on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:45AM (#44344095)
Obama bombed a lot of countries with no act of congress: Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, etc. I don’t know the legality but plenty of precedent besides him.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by kristjansson on Sunday June 22, 2025 @02:11AM (#44344270)
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by jopsen on Sunday June 22, 2025 @03:38PM (#44349672)
2001 seems like a long time ago, is that really the legal helmet here?
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by kristjansson on Monday June 23, 2025 @01:53AM (#44352795)
I don't know if the current administration has articulated a legal basis for the Iran strike. I was only pointing out that the earlier strikes mentioned did have (a gesture toward) congressional authorization.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by rocqua on Sunday June 22, 2025 @03:50AM (#44344852)
Only a minor difference, but from what I know, those strikes were not against government targets?
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by ignoramous on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:53AM (#44344152)
> Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria ...

Interesting. Bombing Muslim-majority countries seems to be accepted exception?

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by PeterHolzwarth on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:16AM (#44343903)
By the body of American legislative tradition, no this is not an act of war. In fact, we haven't declared one since WWII.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by BartjeD on Sunday June 22, 2025 @04:14AM (#44344988)
If Mexico bombed area 51 with bunker busters and stealth planes, it would be interpreted as a declaration of war.

By anyone. The world over.

If you're seriously saying this isn't war, bombing Iran, you're just engaging in willfull self deception at this point.

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by zorobo on Sunday June 22, 2025 @05:10AM (#44345305)
I don’t recall USA saying death to Mexico
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by BartjeD on Sunday June 22, 2025 @05:22AM (#44345375)
So if we change the example to Canada, responding to threats of annexation, you'l engage on the point in substance?
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by zorobo on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:20PM (#44348558)
I didn't know the US envisions throwing Mexicans and Canadians to the sea (at best)
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by dunekid on Sunday June 22, 2025 @05:58AM (#44345545)
Squint a bit harder and see if US toppled a democratically elected government in Mexico and installed a cruel dictator for oil? And shot down a civilian flight from Mexico? Maybe not.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by einpoklum on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:35AM (#44344030)
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S8-C11-2...

Use of military force requires congressional approval.

Well, in principle. In practice, the US executive does not observe this restriction, or at most - makes a flimsy connection the 2001 AUMF following the twin towers attack. The courts do not enjoin it from using military force pretty much arbitraly; and congress does not impeach nor even adopt declarative denunciations of this behavior.

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by Refreeze5224 on Sunday June 22, 2025 @02:00AM (#44344201)
George Washington was the first president to take military action without congressional approval, so on the sense of precedent providing legality, it's quite an old concept.
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Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by PeterHolzwarth on Sunday June 22, 2025 @02:14AM (#44344286)
WWII was the last time American declared war.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by khazhoux on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:53AM (#44344150)
We were already at a declared war at that time.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by BartjeD on Sunday June 22, 2025 @02:33AM (#44344405)
The point being that under your definition, a thermo nucleair device also isnt a declaration of war.

Hence highlighting the completely schizofrenic bind this position entails.

Because no one would consider a nuke anything other than a war, and the same applies to these planes dropping these bombs.

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by alkonaut on Sunday June 22, 2025 @04:28AM (#44345076)
Bombing government military infrastructure (not terrorist cells or similar) is as clear as it gets.

If this isn’t an act of war then nothing is. And that’s a terrifying thought because that means a single person can start a war without congressional approval. Even impeachment doesn’t help prevent war since it’s after the fact.

What happens if a president orders strikes on a friendly country? It could be due to dementia, narcissistic personality disorder, personal vendettas (hypothetically, in real life I trust the US wouldnt elect that kind of person).

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by blahyawnblah on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:57AM (#44344179)
No. The president is the commander in chief. I can't remember the president or the situation but a long time ago a president attacked and said "I'm sending the troops" then senate/congress had to approve it or troops would be stranded.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by Anduia on Sunday June 22, 2025 @03:49AM (#44344845)
You are thinking about Truman sending the troops to help South Korea. However, he had UN backing.

The War Powers Act of 1973 was approved literally to avoid it happening in the future.

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by BLKNSLVR on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:15AM (#44343900)
The US, as rational thinking US citizens may have thought it to be, no longer exists.

In fact, it may never have actually existed.

Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by lotyrin on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:24AM (#44343948)
Intelligent, rational, empathetic people need to realize that when they are doing theory of mind for others (and especially groups) they are projecting their own qualities where they do not exist.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by khazhoux on Sunday June 22, 2025 @01:54AM (#44344161)
That ship sailed decades ago, my friend.
Re:Trump says US has bombed Fordo nuclear plant in attack on... by ExoticPearTree on Sunday June 22, 2025 @08:38AM (#44346417)
> Isn't an act of congress required for this, in the US?

Yes, but when only when you really need to go to a full wartime economy. Otherwise is just business as usual.