After some 5,000 airstrikes and around 3,500 US soldiers on the ground, Congress has still not authorized US involvement in the Middle East war, wrote vice president of the Cato Institute Jean Healey.
On August 7, 2014, President Obama announced that he had ‘authorized’ the first round of airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq. A month later he expanded the war to Syria.
It was six months before he managed to send Congress a draft Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF)—along with a cover note insisting that “existing statutes provide me with the authority I need” to wage war anyway, Healey for The National Interest wrote.
Since then, according to Senator Tim Kane, Congress has “declined from participating in debates and voting” to authorize the military actions.
In last week’s speech defending the Iran deal, Obama “burnished his hawkish bona fides by pointing out that he’d bombed no fewer than seven countries as president.”
Over the last year, Barack Obama and the US Congress have taken a path which is not going to lead US towards a peaceful policy, concludes Healey.
