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The Illegal War Against ISIS (II)

The military intervention in Iraq and Syria is illegal under U.S. law.

Two recent polls show that the public overwhelmingly wants Congress to return from its recess and vote on authorizing the war against ISIS, and everyone commenting on the polls agrees that it isn’t going to happen. Aaron Blake writes:

That’s because, however many Americans feel Congress should approve military action, very few of them are speaking out against the decision to go into Iraq and Syria without congressional approval. To be sure, Americans would like for their duly elected representatives to sign off, but they’re not exactly incensed that Congress hasn’t been asked. And people largely approve of what they’ve seen so far, as far as the airstrikes go.

This just underscores how pathetic it is that the administration won’t seek a vote and Congress won’t attempt to have one. As things stand now, the military intervention in Iraq and Syria is illegal under U.S. law. Official administration justifications that try to use the 2001 and 2001 AUMFs don’t pass the laugh test for reasons that have been laid out before. The president doesn’t have an inherent power as president to start a war against a group that hasn’t attacked the U.S. and that doesn’t directly threaten us. The new war has been going on for over two months, and it expanded into Syria weeks ago, so there should be no question that the president has exceeded his authority in waging this war without Congressional approval. The longer that the war continues in this fashion, the more that it makes a mockery of our constitutional system and paves the way for completely unchecked presidential war-making.

The most ridiculous part of this is that Congress would easily pass any resolution authorizing the use of force against ISIS. There is no real danger that the administration would have another Syria embarrassment on its hands. Instead of dodging the legal issues surrounding the war, or concocting ludicrous arguments using AUMFs that don’t apply, the administration could point to Congress’ vote in support of its ill-conceived and unnecessary war. After all, the war currently has public support, and most members of Congress are going out of their way to declare their support for striking at ISIS. As these things go, this one would seem to be one of the least risky votes that most members of Congress will have to cast, but so great are their cowardice and abdication of responsibility that they still won’t do it. As long as they keep ducking the issue, the war’s illegality is one more reason it ought to be ended immediately.

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