Kaine: Put limits on terror war declaration

More than a dozen years after Congress authorized the use of military force against nations, groups or individuals involved in or aiding the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine said it's time to rethink that open-ended declaration.

The authorization, passed by Congress three days after the attacks that killed 2,977 people in New York City, Washington, D.C., and rural Pennsylvania, has been used by the last two presidents to broaden the war on terrorism beyond those involved in 9/11 - to seek out their affiliates wherever military leaders deem necessary.

Kaine said during a visit to his Virginia Beach office Wednesday that he and several other senators believe the authorization needs limits and a new congressional review.

The Virginia Democrat and other legislators are questioning the extension of the U.S. war on terror into future decades based solely on a vote made days after the 2001 attacks.

"Both the Bush and the Obama administrations have said, 'Look, if a group pops up today that affiliates with al-Qaida, even if they had nothing to do with 9/11 and even if they're in a part of the world where they're not focused on the United States at all, but they're trying to accomplish something in their own neighborhood,' they're brought within... this authorization," Kaine said.

He noted that a senior Pentagon official told a Senate committee last year the war authorization would remain in place for another 10 or 20 years.

"You could put some kind of geographical limitation or you could put a presumptive end time and it should have to be reauthorized in two years," Kaine said. "I mean there's different ways you do it. Many of us in the Senate are talking about that."

Kaine said such new scrutiny would likely lead to reconsiderations of the Patriot Act and other security-related laws passed after 9/11 that address an array of issues including surveillance, air-travel regulations and the holding of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba.

A new examination and public debate about the right level of security at airports and the type of data collection vital for national defense would be a likely next step after Congress and the White House come to terms on the war resolution, Kaine said.

The 2001 authorization is the root of the post-9/11 security-related measures, he said.

Kaine said no formal effort to reconsider the authorization has begun but several senators on both sides of the aisle have raised the issue, including John McCain of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee - both Republicans - and Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. All serve with Kaine on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Pentagon officials made clear during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in May that the post-9/11 war resolution allows them to seek out international terrorists anywhere - including going after groups now affiliated with al-Qaida that were not involved in the 2001 attack.

McCain said during the May hearing that published reports indicate the U.S. has killed people with only "tenuous" connections to al-Qaida. "In fact, there's one story that we killed somebody in return for the Pakistanis to kill somebody," he said.

"Congress has been briefed from time to time," McCain said. "The fact is that this authority... has grown way out of proportions and is no longer applicable to the conditions that prevailed" when lawmakers approved military action in 2001. The war resolution doesn't need to be entirely repealed but should be revised, he said.

Kaine and McCain also are pressing for changes to the 1973 War Powers Act to enforce stronger congressional consultation or approval before a president sends troops into armed conflict.

The senators argue that presidents too often send troops into conflicts without proper consultation or approval from Congress.

The 1973 resolution requires the president to consult Congress before committing forces abroad, with some exceptions. The president can take action without legislative approval after an attack on the United States, its territories or its military, the law says.

Among the changes the senators proposed: establishing a permanent congressional committee to consult with the president when considering military action; requiring a congressional vote within 30 days of a president engaging U.S. forces, in order to ensure a public debate; and requiring the president to consult with Congress before engaging in a combat operation expected to last more than seven days.

###