Sen. Kaine and the ISIS AUMF
No one doubts the so-called Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL or whatever it calls itself is a grave threat to the stability of the Middle East and, indirectly, to U.S. national security interests. From its gruesome beheadings of Western captives in the deserts of Syria to the mass decapitations of Coptic Christians on the beaches of Libya and wannabe terrorists in Garland, Texas, ISIS is about as scary as they come these days.
Rising last year from the ashes of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the disasterous Arab Spring uprising in Syria, coordinated by Saddam’s former Baathist generals and stoked by the embers of resentment over their treatment in post-Saddam Iraq by the Shi’ite government led by American-backed Nouri al-Maliki, ISIS seemed on the brink of carving out a modern-day Sunni caliphate in the heart of Syria and Iraq.
That is, until President Obama and regional allies launched a withering air war, in coordination with ground troops from Iraq. Since the bombings began Aug. 8, the advance of ISIS has been checked, if not turned back. Washington has spent more than $2 billion in the action against ISIS.
The campaign is not without dangers for allied pilots. Indeed, a Jordanian fighter jet was downed and its pilot captured alive in December. ISIS later posted a video of him, caged and doused with a flammable liquid, being burned to death.
That’s where Virginia’s Sen. Tim Kaine comes into the picture.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and a longtime Obama supporter, Kaine has emerged as one of the president’s staunchest critics when it comes to use of American military forces, first in Libya and now in the fight against ISIS.
A member of both the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, Kaine is acutely aware of the role the U.S. Constitution gives Congress in formulating, debating and prosecuting U.S. foreign policy. One of the most serious steps a president can undertake is to lead America to war and put its military forces in harm’s way. But it’s not a step he can take unilaterally, for Congress is required to sign off on such a step.
And that’s where Kaine has emerged as one of the sharpest thorns in the side of both the president and Congress. President Obama contends a post-Sept. 11, 2001 congressional Authorization of Military Force to pursue al-Qaida gives him all the authority he needs to pursue ISIS in 2015.
Tim Kaine begs to differ. ISIS is a new enemy, a new threat and a different threat that sprang up in the wake of the Iraq War debacle. It’s not al-Qaida or related to the Taliban, rendering the 2001 AUMF irrelevant.
Congress, Kaine argues, must assert itself in the fight against ISIS, and the U.S. Senate must lead the way in that discussion. The Founders, Kaine argues, did not intend for one person to have the power to lead the nation war; it must be a collaborative process between the chief executive and Congress, the people’s branch of government.
Many of Kaine’s colleagues may be reticent to take up the ISIS AUMF and grapple with the thorny issues it raises, but the gentleman from Virginia is not. He knows as well as anyone that America and its leaders are strongest when the government unites behind a common goal. It’s time for Congress to listen to Sen. Kaine and take up the ISIS AUMF for the long slog ahead for out military.
