Rand Paul: “I rise in support of bringing the Iraq war to a formal end. President Obama has ordered troops home by January 1. We…”

“I rise in support of bringing the Iraq war to a formal end. President Obama has ordered troops home by January 1. We should rejoice at the conclusion of the war. No matter whether one favored the Iraq war or not, there is a glimmer of hope for democracy to now exist in the Middle East in Iraq. War is a hellish business and never to be desired. As the famous POW and war hero John McCain once said: ``War is wretched beyond description, and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality.'' This vote is more than symbolism. This vote is about the separation of powers. It is about whether Congress should have the power to declare war. The Constitution vested that power in Congress, and it was very important. Our Founding Fathers did not want all the power to gravitate to the Executive. They feared very much a King, and so they limited the power of the Executive. When Franklin walked out of the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked him: What have you brought us? Was it going to be a republic, a democracy, a monarchy? He said: A republic, if you can keep it. In order to keep a republic, we have to have checks and balances. But we have to obey the rule of law. Madison wrote: The Constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. The Constitution has, therefore, with studied care, vested the [power] to declare war in [Congress].…”