Whenever some tragedy involving a teenager occurs, immediately the media's how-could-this happen hand wringing begins grinding through the broadcast and newspaper mills.

The undeclared war NATO is pursuing in Yugoslavia raises a fundamental legal and moral issue that demands an explanation, particularly from the United States and the Clinton administration that regularly cites international law to validate its policy decisions: are the current combat operations legal according to the standards established under international law?

In Part One last month, we focused on the history of executive orders and the potential for abuse when these instruments are used to illegitimately further the international agenda expressed in UN treaties.

What do we call a government where a single individual has the power to create laws merely by uttering a few words or issuing some sort of written decree? Most of us would respond that this describes a monarchy. The founders of our nation clearly wanted to depart from the kind of despotic control that can be imposed by a royal ruling class and established a republic to achieve that.