NATO Article 5 does not “trigger” anything

Contrary to myths fueling Capitol Hill belligerence, defense contractor salivation and mass media stenography, Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization charter — an attack on one is an attack on all — does not automatically enlist the United States into war when one of its 30 member countries is attacked.

Far from it.

This I recently learned from Ralph Nader’s print-only pilot issue of Capitol Hill Citizen, the U.S. Constitution cannot be amended by treaty and only Congress can declare war.

It’s not the kind of thing war hawks want widely publicized.

They prefer the public forget their own government’s organizing principles in a hot thrust through the fog of war. This was no more apparent than when Russian airstrikes landed a bit too close to Poland’s border, as the Independent openly fretted in its headline: Russian missile strike near NATO’s Poland stirs anxiety!

On March 13, Russia attacked Yavoriv, a military training site in western Ukraine, just a dozen miles from the Polish border. A strike on Polish soil would make NATO Article 5 no longer an abstract concept, journalists the world over bleated.

Poland is a NATO member.

This was pretty much the standard take, reiterating the all for one and one for all global war schtick Biden bellowed at his State of the Union address, when he pledged to “defend every inch of territory of NATO countries with the full force of our collective power.”

It was therefore comforting to read Nader’s clarification.

The open letter to Biden, co-written by Tom Cambell, former Congressmember, Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Lou Fisher, Visiting Professor at William and Mary Law School, said the loud part quietly:

Only Congress can declare war.

You see, the less bombastic stuff comes a bit later in the NATO Treaty, authors explain.

Specifically, Article 11 which clearly provides that NATO’s provisions are answerable to the constitution.

“This treaty shall be ratified and its provisions carried out by the Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.”

Nader recalls the comments of then Secretary of State Dean Acheson testifying in 1949 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in support of NATO:

“[Article 5] does not mean that the United States would automatically be at war if one of the other signatory nations were the victim of an armed attack.”

The Declare War Clause, Article I, section 8, clause 11, empowers Congress alone to decide whether to employ the United States Armed Forces offensively not in response to an actual or imminent attack on the United States.

This we learn is the same subservient language used in the United Nations Charter in calling for members to make military contributions to enforce UN Security Council Resolutions under Chapter 7: In accordance with each countries constitutional processes.

Put simply, no war under NATO Article 5 unless Congress authorizes by Act or joint resolution. The President is prohibited from unilateral action.

Congress’ quashing of Obama’s flirtation with declaring war on Syria and, most recently, the Senate’s attempt to reign in any POTUS led attacks on Iran and to discontinue ongoing US support for Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen — both vetoed by Trump — are the most recent examples of exercise of Congressional War Powers I can put my finger on.

Additionally, the 1973 War Powers Resolution, Section 8(a)(2) precludes inferring authority to use force from any treaty that is not implemented by legislation specifically authorizing the use of force.

And Nader goes on to quote Biden’s own defense of Congress’ War Powers in a 2007 interview with Chris Matthews on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” in which the then Democratic Presidential Candidate claimed offensive use of the armed forces without Congressional approval was an impeachable offense.

It’s time for Congress to re-assert its’ constitutional authority and, should ever that terrible time come when Article 5 is invoked, we citizens must all be prepared to demand invocation of Article 11 and make sure Congress does not forfeit its most consequential power.

Nader’s latest publication will be as vital as his previous ones in understanding the Ukraine predicament and shining a spotlight on the Corporate Congress.