Obama Should Authorize Congress to Declare War Against IS: US Senator

Republican Senator Rand Paul thinks the United States should declare all-out war against the Islamic State.

WASHINGTON, November 24 (Sputnik) – US President Barack Obama should authorize Congress to declare war against the Islamic State (IS), US Republican Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul announced said Monday.

"When Congress comes back into session in December, I will introduce a resolution to declare war against ISIS [Islamic State]. I believe the President [Obama] must come to Congress to begin a war and that Congress has a duty to act. Right now, this war is illegal until Congress acts pursuant to the Constitution and authorizes it," Senator Paul said in a statement.

Paul's resolution challenges two laws that allow the president to authorize the use of military force. The Republican senator's proposal would repeal the authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 and terminate the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.

The proposed resolution entitled "Declaration of War against the Organization known as the Islamic State" would additionally have measures that would limit the scope of the fight and would expire one year after the resolution was approved.

In late June, the IS announced the establishment of a caliphate on the territories it had captured in Iraq and Syria. In August, the US-led coalition force began airstrikes against the IS forces in Iraq and Syria.