Passage of the US-Iraq security pact under the terms both countries' leaders have advocated could violate the constitutions of both countries, specialists told a congressional subcommittee yesterday.
American constitutional law scholar Oona Hathaway said she believes the Constitution requires Congress to also approve the agreement. The Bush administration has labeled the pact a "status of forces agreement," which can be implemented without congressional approval.
But Hathaway said the US-Iraqi pact is more comprehensive than previous agreements because it allows US troops to engage in military operations and specifies timetables for military withdrawal.
"These are unprecedented in a standard status of forces agreement, have never been part of a standard status of forces agreement, and extend in my view far beyond what the president can do without obtaining congressional approval," said Hathaway, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley's School of Law.
TVNL Comment: So what? Has the Bush administration done ANYTHING that IS Constitutional?
On 28 February 2026, the first day of the war, the US and Israel launched a...
Iran’s foreign minister returned to Pakistan on Sunday for peace talks, despite US President Donald Trump...
In an extraordinary article published on 7 April, the New York Times described how Donald Trump...
US naval forces intercepted a Russian “shadow fleet” vessel in the Arabian Sea on Saturday, April...
