Another War Without Declaration

The day before 9/11, we learned that President Obama was planning to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq, but also in Syria. Spurred by ISIS videos seeming to show the beheadings of two American journalists and an English aid worker, the American public was outraged and ready for war. Obama told Congress, he would appreciate their support, but even if they chose not to stand behind him, he said the office of the President holds all the power necessary to arm and train rebels in Syria and even launch a military airstrike campaign in a sovereign state.

As it turned out, the House and Senate both moved to support Obama’s strategy, with his repeated promises not to put American boots on the ground. Since then, several military strategists and even current and former top leaders in the Pentagon have debated whether or not that’s possible or if that’s even happening. The reality is, American military troops are standing on Iraqi ground right now. And if they’re attacked, they are prepared and ready to fight back.

But lost in all of this shuffle is one important fact: this new war on the Islamic State is nothing more than a hybrid version of the old war on terror. ISIS is a spin-off of al-Qaeda, and regardless of what anyone in Washington tries to say, this is a direct continuation of the 2003 war in Iraq.

And like the 2003 war to find weapons of mass destruction, Congress seems to be skipping over one important part of the Constitution. The Constitution awards Congress the powers to declare war. Not the President. And still, while Congress DID vote to send weapons and cash to a militia without a government - a precedent all by itself - Congress still hasn’t voted to declare war against Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian government, OR the Islamic State. And the same people the US is training to fight ISIS are ALSO saying their primary goal is to topple Assad. So while the US is clearly taking sides in the fight, President Obama is standing by President Bush, both of whom believe they have more power than the Constitution.