Dan Rempel wrote:

> B Robson wrote:
> 
>> Michael Cash wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 12:34:27 +0900, Brett Robson
>>> <deep_m_m@hotmail.com> brought down from the Mount tablets inscribed:
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Kevin Gowen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> John W. wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Michael Cash wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The AP radio news, in characteristic unbiased fashion, informed me
>>>>>>> this evening that in the debates Kerry will call Bush to account for
>>>>>>> "the mess in Iraq".
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just out of curiosity, do you think it's not a mess and think we were
>>>>>> absolutely right for going there and taking our eyes completely off
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> ball?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Which war do you think wasn't a mess?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Is the War of Terrorism (TM Fox News) as there was no formal
>>>> declaration of war?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> What does a formal declaration of war look like? The framers of the
>>> Constitution forgot to include a fill-in-the-blank form for us to use.
>>>
>>
>> Of course I was being facetious. But surely you know that congress alone
>> holds the power to declare war? The Vietnam not-War was unconstitutional
>> as the president waged war but congress never declared war.
> 
> 
> Didn't Johnson push something through congress allowing to fight the
> Vietnam-whatever-it-was? I saw "The Fog of War" recently and I thought
> McNamara mentioned something like that.
> 
> Dan
> 

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution says that US forces can defend themselves 
and defend members of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty 
Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the 
UK, and the USA. Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos were made "protocol states".