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The Unintended Consequences of Congressional Reform: the Clark and Tunney Amendments and U.S
diph_3 1/8/03 3:50 PM Page 215 robert david johnson The Unintended Consequences of Congressional Reform: The Clark and Tunney Amendments and U.S. Policy toward Angola On 20 December 1975, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment to the Depart- ment of Defense appropriations bill introduced by John Tunney (D-CA) ter- minating covert assistance to anti-Communist forces in Angola. Later that 1 winter, an amendment to the foreign aid bill, sponsored by Dick Clark (D-IA), extended the ban. The two amendments represented the high point of a congressional revolt against the anti-Communist ethos of the Cold War and executive authority in foreign policy. Although the two amendments are usually paired together, they expanded Congress’s foreign-policy presence in quite different ways.1 On the one hand, the Clark amendment relied on a traditional gambit—a rider to the foreign aid bill—to unequivocally establish the principle that Congress possessed the right to oversee covert intelligence operations. The Tunney amendment, on the other hand, used the appropriations power in a different way, in a policy rider to the Pentagon budget, to suggest that defense spending matters were fair game for congressional attempts to legislate foreign policy. Both tactics were so contro- versial that, before the debate over Angolan policy, no clear-cut congressional implementation of either approach had occurred during the Cold War. Once enacted, though, the amendments produced a host of unintended con- sequences. Their passage helped further erode the Cold War institutional struc- ture of Congress, in which that body had sacrificed potent foreign-policy tools in deference to executive authority. -
The War Powers Resolution at 40: Still an Unconstitutional, Unnecessary, and Unwise Fraud That Contributed Directly to the 9/11 Attacks, 45 Case W
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 45 | Issue 1 2012 The aW r Powers Resolution at 40: Still an Unconstitutional, Unnecessary, and Unwise Fraud that Contributed Directly to the 9/11 Attacks Robert F. Turner Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Robert F. Turner, The War Powers Resolution at 40: Still an Unconstitutional, Unnecessary, and Unwise Fraud that Contributed Directly to the 9/11 Attacks, 45 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 109 (2012) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol45/iss1/28 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 45 Fall 2012 Issues 1 & 2 The War Powers Resolution at 40: Still an Unconstitutional, Unnecessary, and Unwise Fraud that Contributed Directly to the 9/11 Attacks Robert F. Turner CASE WESTERN RESERVE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW·VOL. 45·2012 The War Powers Resolution at 40: Still an Unconstitutional, Unnecessary, and Unwise Fraud That Contributed Directly to the 9/11 Attacks Robert F. Turner, SJD* The 1973 War Powers Resolution was a fraud upon the American people, portrayed as a legislative fix to the problem of “imperial presidents” taking America to war in Korea and Vietnam without public approval or the constitutionally required legislative sanction. -
Diamonds, Oil, and the American Mediafiltering out the Logic Of
ASPJ Africa & Francophonie - 3rd Quarter 2014 Diamonds, Oil, and the American Media Filtering Out the Logic of Plunder in the Angolan Civil War CHRISTOPHER R. COOK, PHD* he Angolan Civil War lasted from 1975, the year of Angola’s indepen- dence, to 2002 with some brief intermissions. The war, which destroyed the country’s economy and infrastructure, killed up to half a million civilians. The Soviet- and Cuban-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the official Angolan government, opposed the TAmerican- and South African–backed Jonas Savimbi and his National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). At any given time, the conflict brought in troops and mercenaries from Zaire, Cuba, and South Africa as well as billions of dollars’ worth of aid and materiel from the United States and Soviet Union. When the Cold War and foreign aid ended, the war dragged on in slow motion as it morphed into a “resource war” funded through the sale of oil and il- licit diamonds until Savimbi was killed in 2002 and UNITA unraveled. From a twenty-first-century perspective, it would be easy to say that Angola was the Cold War stereotype of a third world conflict. However, this dichotomy of good and evil would be an oversimplification. Both the MPLA and UNITA became what the Cold War demanded of them. For one, members of the MPLA were not good communists since they searched for international capital to loot. They even held business junkets in the 1980s during which they reassured West- ern businesses of the importance of private profit. -
Chevron-Gulf, the CIA, and the Angolan Civil War
Cabinda and The Company: Chevron-Gulf, the CIA, and the Angolan Civil War Austin Angel History Faculty Advisor: Dr. Michael Kithinji The history of Gulf Oil and later Chevron-Gulf1 operations in Angola is a complex story of split alliances, nation-controlling wealth, and the follies of organizational nearsightedness in times of conflict. The involvement of Chevron-Gulf in Angola and the machinations of the CIA would pull the two organizations inexorably into a miniature Cold War against each other, with the political future of Angola caught in the crossfire. An examination of this conflict offers a glimpse into the Gordian knot of mineral extraction ethics in developing countries and the impossibility of remaining neutral as a large business in a nation at war. It also displays the consequences of rigidly applying global strategic objectives across every conflict without stopping to examine the real situation on the ground. Chevron-Gulf’s history in Angola is inseparable from the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002), although Gulf Oil’s presence predates 1 Chevron Corporation acquired Gulf Oil’s Angola holdings in 1984. In this paper, “Gulf Oil” will be used to refer to the owner of the holdings in Angola before 1984 and “Chevron-Gulf” will be used to describe both the owner after 1984 and when no specific date is referenced. CLA Journal 6 (2018) pp. 75-86. 76 the war by twenty one years. In 1954, the Cabinda Gulf Oil company began petroleum exploration in the northern exclave Cabinda province, home to some of the largest offshore oil deposits on Earth, as part of a contract signed with the Portuguese colonial government that had occupied Angola since 1575. -
American Covert Involvement in the Angolan Civil War, 1974-1975
Into the Storm: American Covert Involvement in the Angolan Civil War, 1974-1975 Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Butler, Shannon Rae Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 07:14:59 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195354 INTO THE STORM: AMERICAN COVERT INVOLVEMENT IN THE ANGOLAN CIVIL WAR, 1974-1975 by Shannon Rae Butler _____________________ Copyright © Shannon Rae Butler 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2008 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Shannon R. Butler entitled Into the Storm: American Covert Involvement in the Angolan Civil War, 1974- 1975 and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Michael Schaller _______________________________________________________________________ Date: October 24, 2008 David Gibbs ___________________________________________________________________ Date: October 24, 2008 John P. Willerton ___________________________________________________________________ Date: October 24, 2008 Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. -
Once More Unto the Breach: American War Power and a Second Legislative Attempt to Ensure Congressional Input
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Volume 43 2010 Once More Unto the Breach: American War Power and a Second Legislative Attempt to Ensure Congressional Input Jonathan T. Menitove Harvard Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Legislation Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, and the President/Executive Department Commons Recommended Citation Jonathan T. Menitove, Once More Unto the Breach: American War Power and a Second Legislative Attempt to Ensure Congressional Input, 43 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 773 (2010). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol43/iss3/6 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH: AMERICAN WAR POWER AND A SECOND LEGISLATIVE ATTEMPT TO ENSURE CONGRESSIONAL INPUT Jonathan T. Menitove* Once again embroiled in an unpopular overseas armed conflict, the United States faces difficult questions concerningthe constitutionaluse of military force. Records from the Constitutional Convention suggest the Framers intended to lodge Amer- ica's power to go to war with the Congress. While American presidents' early use of military force displays -
'Iowa's Senator from Africa': Senator Dick
Western Illinois Historical Review © 2017 Volume VIII, Spring 2017 ISSN 2153-1714 ‘Iowa’s Senator from Africa’: Senator Dick Clark in Southern Africa Ricky Newcomb Western Illinois University “The dogma of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew, and act anew.”1 Quoting President Abraham Lincoln in a 1976 speech to the African Studies Association in Boston, Senator Richard “Dick” Clark invoked the gathering’s theme of “reassessment” on the eve of Carter’s election to the Presidency of the United States. Elected in a 1972 upset, Clark found himself as chair of the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1975. With the results of the 1976 election, the junior senator from Iowa connected the reflective words of Lincoln to the need for a reassessment of U.S. policy in southern Africa. A Democrat who had fought against covert intervention in Angola by the Ford administration, Clark hoped that such a reassessment could ultimately change U.S. policy toward the apartheid government of South Africa. Clark believed that it was time for America to rise to the occasion. This paper will examine the extent to which Clark’s transnational exchanges and advocacy affected congressional action with regards to South Africa. Although he was not alone in the congressional anti-apartheid movement and other events were leading to shifting opinion, Clark played an influential role in moving congressional opinion, thereby leading to subsequent congressional action. -
Can Appropriation Riders Speed Our Exit from Iraq? Charles Tiefer University of Baltimore School of Law, [email protected]
University of Baltimore Law ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law All Faculty Scholarship Faculty Scholarship Summer 2006 Can Appropriation Riders Speed Our Exit from Iraq? Charles Tiefer University of Baltimore School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/all_fac Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, International Law Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, and the President/Executive Department Commons Recommended Citation Can Appropriation Riders Speed Our Exit from Iraq? 42 Stan. J. Int'l L. 291 (2006) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CAN ApPROPRIATION RIDERS SPEED OUR EXIT FROM IRAQ? By CHARLES TIEFER • I. INTRODUCTION If the President loses centrist American political support for continuing the war in Iraq, members of Congress might employ their most legally potent, yet controversial, tool to speed our exit, or at least to change policy. Namely, they can attach conditions-typically in the form of provisions added to the war funding and Iraq aid appropriations, known as "riders" because of how they "ride" on the underlying bill-pushing the military ground combat operations toward an earlier exit. I Congress enacts an appropriation bill for funding the continuation of the Iraq war at least once every year and also enacts funding bills for military training, reconstruction, and other aid for the government of Iraq.2 Congressional procedure allows proponents of policy changes to offer riders for these funding bills.