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24 Va. J. Int'l L. 513 (1983-1984)
Book Reviews

handle is hein.journals/vajint24 and id is 523 raw text is: BOOK REVIEWS
THE WAR PowERs RESOLUTION: ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN THEORY
AND PRACTICE. By Robert F. Turner. Philadelphia: Foreign Policy
Research Institute, 1983, xviii, 147 pp.
Reviewed by JOHN C. CRUDEN*
Conceived in anger, written as a compromise between two irrec-
oncilable congressional proposals, and ignored or violated in prac-
tice, the War Powers Resolution' remains the most controversial
effort to define and limit the President's war-making authority in
our nation's history. Since its inception in 1973, no major presiden-
tial initiative involving forces abroad - from the evacuation of
U.S. citizens from Saigon and Pnom Penh to the ill-fated Iranian
rescue attempt to the recent Grenada incursion - has escaped the
complaint that the Resolution has been violated in spirit or in
practice. Nevertheless, each Chief Executive has made herculean
efforts to pacify Congress, thereby avoiding confrontation, while si-
multaneously taking action to avoid complying with its terms. This
seemingly contradictory effort is a facet of modern day executive-
congressional relations that should be examined and resolved.
* Lieutenent Colonel, Chief, Administrative and Civil Law Division, U.S. Army Judge
Advocate General's School The views expressed herein are those of the reviewer and do not
necessarily represent those of the U.S. Army or any other governmental agency.
1. 50 U.S.C. § 1541(c) (1976). The Resolution has ten sections, including a purpose and
policy provision which purports to define the three constitutional methods by which the
President, as Commander-in-Chief, can introduce U.S. forces into ho3tilitie3. The most criti-
cal sections require consultation before and reporting after forces are committed into actual
or imminent hositilities, limit such actions to 90 days without congressional approval, and
allow Congress to order removal of committed forces at any time by concurrent resolution,
the so-called legislative veto.

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