When it comes to war, the imperial (if bumbling) White House can do anything it wants these days, right? The Guardian has a fine piece on the legalities of the new war/bombing campaign in Syria, which the White House started citing the War Powers Act of the Vietnam era, meant to reign in presidential actions after 60 days. (A presidential has to return to Congress for approval then.) Now, those 60 days are up and rather than return to Congress, the White House has now decided it legally has to do nothing because it really went to war under a pair of 2001 and 2002 congressional resolutions, known as Authorizations to Use Military Force (AUMF). The first was to authorize a war against al-Qaeda and its allies, which the Islamic State is not; the second, the invasion of Iraq, which, of course, Syria is not! But basically these days when it comes to war, legality is whatever the White House lawyers cook up and war is a presidential act that doesnt concern the rest of us. Tom The White House on Wednesday said a timetable that expired over a week ago limiting its ability to continue a war unauthorized by Congress does not apply to the operation against the Islamic State (Isis) militant group. The 1973 War Powers Resolution holds that presidents have a 60-day window to conduct hostilities without an act of Congress blessing the conflict. Absent such an explicit authorization, wars are supposed to lose their legal force. The White House repeatedly cited the War Powers Resolution throughout the summer, as it notified Congress about troop deployments and airstrikes that inaugurated the war. Initial troop deployments for the war began in mid-June, although some legal scholars doubted that the ostensibly non-combat deployments started the clock. 7 October marked 60 days after US warplanes began bombing Isis positions in Iraq. The newest war – officially christened Operation Inherent Resolve by the US military on Wednesday – now includes attacks on Isis targets in Syria and is expected to last for years. But according to the White House, a pair of 2001 and 2002 congressional resolutions, known as Authorizations to Use Military Force (AUMF), satisfy the War Powers Resolution’s requirement for a specific authorization from the US legislature. theguardian/us-news/2014/oct/15/white-house-war-powers-resolution-iraq
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:00:01 +0000
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