Jack Goldsmith, the head of the Office of Legal Counsel under GW, thinks Obama has introduced three situations in which the President can declare war.
1. While Article 2 of the Constitution gives the president the power to repel an attack on America, Obama has declared that he can go to war even if an attack on us is not imminent. He initiated action in Libya and called it a pure humanitarian intervention and he bombed Syria to "protect regional stability" and "enforce international norms"
2.The War Powers Resolution declares that the president must cease "hostilities" after 60 days without congressional authorization. Yet, Obama attacked Libya from the air for seven months because in his world an air attack does not count as 'hostilities'.
3. In 2001 Congress approved the authorization to use military force, or AUMF. It declares "that the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons..." Yet, we've gone to war without Congress' approval despite the fact that ISIS is a relatively recent organization that was not in existence in 2001.
No comments:
Post a Comment