Congress should rein in Trump
The unprovoked U.S. invasion of Venezuela was unquestionably an act of war. It was not only illegal but also profoundly criminal.
President Donald Trump ordered the attack without even consulting Congress, much less seeking its approval, as the Constitution plainly requires.
Mr. Trump says the attack was justified by Venezuela’s “theft” of U.S. oil, apparently referring to the nationalization of the oil industry there in 1976. But numerous peaceful means are available to right any such wrong. And the United Nations Charter expressly forbids the “threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
The Nuremberg tribunal called such a war of aggression “not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” Today, the International Criminal Court is authorized to prosecute national leaders for ordering aggressive war.
Before Mr. Trump goes after Greenland or Panama or Canada, he must be impeached for “high crimes” and removed from office.