Dem senator questions Obama on legality of expanding ISIS war
A Democratic senator is demanding answers from the Obama administration on the expanding scope of the war with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the legal underpinnings of its plans to defend Syrian rebels from attacks, which could bring the U.S. into war with other groups.
"I understand your Administration is considering revising the existing Rules of Engagement (ROE) to explicitly allow for the defense of U.S.-trained Syrian fighters against attacks," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in a recent letter he wrote to President Obama and obtained by The Hill.
"This revision is necessary as these Syrian forces have come under attack, and have been captured and even killed, by several factions including the al-Nusra Front," he added in the Sept. 3 letter.
Kaine said while he supported defending the rebels, doing so "greatly exceeds the legal authority that rests within the existing" authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) granted to the administration by Congress.
"As such, I respectfully request your clarification of the [rules of engagement] and the legal justification for U.S. action to protect Syrian forces," said Kaine, Congress's most prominent voice calling for new legal authority for the military action.
The Pentagon announced last month that it would defend the U.S.-trained Syrian rebels from attacks by any forces, including the Syrian regime, after the first group was attacked by al Qaeda's Syria affiliate almost immediately after they deployed into Syria from their training sites in late July.
U.S. forces provided the rebels with air support during that attack — striking al-Nusra fighters for the first time.
Administration officials said it is now using the Constitution's Article II powers to defend the Syrian rebels. Legal experts said it has been interpreted to allow the president to defend the homeland, and that its use in this case is a stretch.
“If Syrian government forces attack the Syrian fighters we have trained and equipped while they were engaging ISIL, the President would have the authority under Article II of the Constitution to defend those fighters,” a senior administration official told The Hill last month, using another acronym to describe ISIS.
"I never heard any explanation of Article II powers that would suggest that that is a good application of it," Kaine told The Hill.
The Virginia senator wants Congress to pass a new AUMF specifically for the war against ISIS, which would force lawmakers to debate the war and potentially place limits on its execution.
The administration is currently using the 2001 AUMF used to authorize the Afghanistan War against al Qaeda as its main rationale for the war against ISIS. The White House has reasoned that ISIS is essentially al Qaeda in Iraq.
Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, said in the letter he was "extremely disappointed" that Congress has not voted on a new AUMF more than a year after U.S. airstrikes against ISIS began.
"My level of concern over Congressional inaction has increased even more significantly in the wake of reports that the scope of the war is expanding to defend U.S. trained Syrian fighters against attacks, including from the [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad regime," he wrote.
Kaine said he also requested clarification on the recent U.S. agreement with Turkey, which allowed U.S. forces to use its airbases to attack ISIS and brought Turkey into the air campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey had long sought a "no-fly zone" along its southern border with Syria to protect civilians and refugees, but the U.S. has opposed that plan and denies it agreed to one, while conceding to seeking an "ISIS-free area."
"I have been a staunch supporter of the need for a humanitarian zone along the Turkey-Syrian border and am encouraged by this news of this ISIL-free zone. However, I understand the Administration has denied the creation of any such zone," Kaine wrote.
"As such, I would like to clearly understand what agreement has been reached between the U.S. and Turkey to include any new roles and responsibilities assigned to each party," he added.
Kaine said some of his colleagues were also growing more concerned over the ambiguities, and that at the time he wrote his letter, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee requested that the administration brief them on the ISIS war.
"I do think it's making some of my colleagues say, 'Wow, this is really extending and mutating and growing, so this is the time to have the authorization discussion,'" he said.
