Keep Repealing AUMFs until You Hit the One That Matters

Gene HealyOn Sunday night at around 6:00 PM ET, Joe Biden became president all over again —at least by theperverse Beltway logic that holds bombing the Middle East is as presidential as it gets. At the CINC ’s command, Air Force F-15s and F-16s pounded several facilities in Syria and Iraq used by Iran-backed militias to attack U.S. troops. The Pentagon’s press officeunleashed a relentless adjective-swarm —“necessary, appropriate, deliberate”—justifying the “defensive precision” attacks, exquisitely calibrated to “limit the risk of escalation” while sending “a clear and unambiguous deterrent message.”Presumably that message failed to hit home, given the retaliatoryrocket attack at a U.S. base in Syria Monday. Still, we can take heart that no congressional authorizations were harmed in the crossfire; the president didn ’t need permission from Congress, heinsisted on Monday: “I have that authority under Article II.”Meanwhile, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Congress has begun, tentatively, to signal that it might like to weigh in on war powers questions too. Two weeks ago, the House votedto repeal the now nearlytwo-decade old congressional resolution that authorized George W. Bush to take out Saddam Hussein. On Tuesday, it passed resolutions revoking the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that empowered Bush senior to wage the Gulf War some 30 years ago, as well as anEisenhower-era AUMF aimed at protecting the Middle East from ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs