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| 8-24-05 Did He Die For Our America?
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Before continuing with this article, our readers are strongly urged to
read the
e-mail from Vicki Pierce and see the photos from the
funeral procession of this little-noticed, but honorable American. I was deeply moved as I read the story and reviewed the moving pictures. |
After over two years,
I knew I was becoming somewhat calloused and hard hearted after hearing, day
after day, about the numbers of Americans dying in Iraq and Afghanistan,
about the numbers of others dying by our hand and in their growing civil
war, about our appetite for gasoline - at any cost, and about our
continuing involvement in the internal affairs of other nations.
In addition, I suppose I had begun to shrug off the sight of the growing
number of barricades, check points, cameras and monitors now protecting and
isolating the government in America from the American People: a process that
began long before 9/11.
However, Vicki Pierce’s email and the roadside salute sent a wave of emotions over me – my unbounded love for my God and my country, the true meaning and value of life and liberty, and concern for an America without a Constitution.
I knew James Kiehl
would still be alive if Rep. Henry Hyde had only taken the advice of Rep.
Ron Paul on October 3, 2002, during the House International Relations
Committee hearing on the White House’s Iraq Resolution.
In the very limited Committee debate and in defending the Resolution,
Chairman Hyde openly declared that portions of the Constitution were now
“anachronistic” and "inappropriate". Rep. Paul countered, strongly
admonishing his colleagues in the House for their failure to follow the
dictates of the
war powers
clauses of the Constitution and, instead, bowing to political
expediency.
I also felt that James
and so many other people would still be alive if the President or some
members of Congress had only responded, as required by the First Amendment,
in November 2002, to the People’s
Petition
for Redress of Grievances regarding the Iraq Resolution.
On November 14, 2002, (four months before the invasion of Iraq), scores upon
scores of Americans had caravanned to Washington, DC, to assemble on the
National Mall to await the government’s response. At the end of the day,
neither the President, nor any member of Congress responded or even sent a
representative to tell the People assembled when their Petitions for Redress
would be answered.
Sadly, instead, the
Petitions were ignored and the Iraq war proceeded with the ensuing loss of
thousands of American lives, untold numbers of limbs, the destruction of
vast foreign properties, and the expenditure of billions of dollars – all
secured by tax-supported government debt.
Beyond these tragedies, many around the world are now “fighting mad” at
America for what we have done --- all because of an arrogance of power which
led our leaders to eschew America’s rule book, the Constitution of the
United States of America, with its essential underlying principles.
In short, we went to War in violation of our own Constitution and the moral
and spiritual fabric upon which our nation was founded.
How right we were in the fall of 2002, when we formally served every member of Congress and the President with a Petition for Redress asking for answers to 23 questions regarding the War Powers clauses of the Constitution and the Iraq Resolution. Click here to view (and sign) the Petition for Redress of grievances.
If only the government
had honored the Petition Clause by acting on our War Powers Petition: there
would have been a Committee review of the Petition, leading to a full public
congressional debate on the President’s call for an invasion of Iraq,
followed by an up or down vote on a Declaration of War.
More than likely, there would NOT have been a decision to go to war against
Iraq because, as we now know, the Executive would NOT have been able to
prove its claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and
that he was reconstituting his nuclear weapons program and that Iraq was
linked to 9-11 and al ‘ Queda.
More than likely, the lack of clear and convincing hard evidence justifying
a pre-emptive attack on Iraq would have resulted in an anemic, unconvincing
public debate. It is likely cooler heads in Congress would have prevailed
-- leaving it to the people of Iraq, not America, to rid the world of one of
its despised dictators.
Instead, our Congress, despite the clear requirements of our Constitution,
and without critical, public examination of the evidence, voted (without
lawful authority) to empower the President (at his sole discretion) to
engage the military of this nation and preemptively strike a foreign country
that, in fact, posed little or no credible threat to either our land or our
People.
As the true details of history continue to be revealed in the news and
across the Internet, it is now reasonable (and more accurate) to acknowledge
that the real reason that Spc. James M. Keihl and countless others have died
and suffered is because We The People -- acting either out of collective
fear or imperial hubris – permitted our government, through deception,
omission and contrivance to commit unconstitutional acts which have
committed us to a conflict thousands of miles away from our home -- and for
which we sadly lack any clear moral or ethical justification.
The price of these ongoing acts will continue to weigh heavily upon this
nation, the soul of its People and our Republic’s ability to preserve the
Freedoms and Founding Principles that we have allegedly sent our sons and
daughters to defend with their lives and their limbs.
For the reason that we are still engaged in hostilities in Iraq without a
Declaration of War, and the likelihood that our government will again seek
to use the men and women of our armed forces of the United States in
overseas hostilities without declarations of war, we must continue the
Petition process as provided by the First Amendment, including its
enforcement through the withholding of our tax monies until our grievances
are Redressed.
In the end, it is all but certain that history will conclude that the
Iraq War was but a symptom of the much larger disease facing our nation:
the ongoing and systemic attacks on our Constitution by those that profit
from war, financial sophistry and the beneficence of a corrupt and
unrestrained government.
It‘s time to demand accountability to our Constitution.
It’s time to make sure that Americans like James Keihl -- who have paid
the ultimate price -- have not died in vain.
The least we can do is stop funding an unconstitutional war.
“No Answers, No Taxes.”
Respectfully,
Robert Schulz,
Chairman
We The People Foundation
www.GiveMeLiberty.org
Click here for Vicki
Pierce’s e-mail about the funeral
of her nephew, Spc. James M. Kiehl.
Related
articles on our website regarding our Petition for Redress
regarding the Iraq Resolution and the war powers clauses of the
Constitution:
“It
Is Now Out In The Open
-- Congress:
'The Constitution Is Inappropriate and
Anachronistic' ”
“Open Letter To Bush, Frist, Hastert and Hyde. “
“History Making Lawsuit Proceeds.”
Learn more about WTP's landmark Right-to-Petition lawsuit
which seeks, for the first time in history, a declaration of Right
regarding the Petition clause of the First Amendment and the
Right of the People to enforce the Right of Petition (and halt
unconstitutional acts of our government) by withholding taxes.
