The following is the first part of a proposed constitutional amendment for more clearly defining declarations of war, who has the authority to authorize such declarations of war and the reasons for such declarations by the United States and who shall have the authority to terminate such declarations bringing hostilities to an end.
Proposed Constitutional Amendment Concerning Declarations of War
Congress shall have the sole authority through the means of declaration of war to authorize the Armed Forces of the United States to wage war or major acts of war, including invasion and occupation against any nation(s), empire(s) or armed faction(s) who have either attacked the United States and its territories; or who pose a credible catastrophic threat to the continued independence of the United States as a sovereign nations and its American way of life; or who have infringed upon the lives, liberties and property of American citizens both here and abroad; or who have attacked an ally of the United States who we have a mutual defense treaty with; or who are embarked on a campaign of world conquest and dictatorship and other flagrant violations of international law and norms.
The end of a declarations of war shall occur under the following conditions: victory on the battlefield with the conditional or unconditional surrender of the enemy, negotiated peace settlement, an executive order issued by the president ordering the Armed Forces of the United States to end hostilities and begin an orderly and complete withdraw from the combat zone, a Congressional recall order and recession of a declaration of war passed by a two-thirds supermajority of the membership of Congress ordering the Armed Forces of the United States to cease hostilities and to withdraw from the combat zone in an orderly and complete fashion, a recall and recession order by a two-thirds supermajority of the various state legislatures of the Union ordering an end of hostilities and a complete and orderly withdraw from the combat zone.
For those readers of the Times-Union who are interested, please contact your U.S. senators and U.S. representatives and urge passage of this amendment in order to better guide our nation in its conduct of foreign affairs and war making around the world. The second part of this amendment will focus on declarations of peace keeping, armed intervention and use of force authorizations along with the war powers of the executive branch and suppression of insurrections and acts of rebellion and piracy.
