Originally published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
By Robert Weiner and Daniel Sordello
As Congress now considers the pros and cons of new military action against ISIS in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, both the House and Senate are reluctant to pass any war authorization despite the Constitution's requirement to do so. Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN), Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last month, "To bring up something that highlights the nation is divided doesn't make a lot of sense to me." Despite President Obama's renewed call at two news conferences this month for "AUMF" (Authorization for Use of Military Force, which he first proposed in 2013), the December headlines in Roll Call and The Hill say, "Congress Shrugs at WarRequest" and "New ISIL War Authorization Left for Dead."
While blasting Obama and other presidents for no strategy, its refusal to approve one of its own has cost the nation. None of the wars the United States has entered since WWII apart from Grenada and the Gulf War (Iraq War I) can be chalked up as a victory. The reasons for lack of victories ranges from flawed intelligence to miscalculation of ground strategies in theater to pushing an impossible ideological agenda for the nation's culture involved. Using the Constitution's regimen provided by our Founding Fathers for Congress to "declare war" could be the check and balances that would set America straight on wars, as well as assure strategy and purpose.
Wars Not Declared by Congress Since WWII:
Korean War-1950
Vietnam War-1964
Grenada War-1983
Persian Gulf War-1990
War in Afghanistan-2001
Iraq War-2003
Syrian War-TBD
Mission:
Korean War: Stop Communist peninsula takeover (Failed)
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
