The Senate's Dereliction of Duty
For one, full year, U.S. fighter jets have been involved in punishing airstrikes on the forces of the so-called Islamic State. And for one, full year, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia has been like a biblical prophet of old, a voice crying in the wilderness, calling on Congress to give its approval and backing to the combat mission.
But to no avail.
President Obama committed U.S. forces to a campaign of airstrikes against ISIS, as the terror state is also known, after weeks of stunning military successes on the ground in western Syria and eastern Iraq. Key cities in Iraq and Syria, ostensibly under the control of Baghdad and Damascus, respectively, fell to ISIS, whose leader eventually declared himself caliph of a new Islamic state. Horrific acts of terrorism against Western hostages and local “heretics,” i.e., Muslims who don’t believe as they do and Christians, followed.
U.S. air forces have joined with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and other Mideast states to launch strikes, in conjunction with Iraqi troops on the ground, to push back ISIS, strikes that have been ongoing since August 2014.
But with no buy-in from Congress, no official Authorization for the Use of Military Force as required by the Constitution and the War Powers Act.
Initially, President Obama contended the AUMF passed by Congress in 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks gave him all the power he needed to pursue ISIS. Small problem, though: The 9/11 AUMF was targed at al-Qaida, the Taliban and their supporters ... ISIS didn’t even exist then.
Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, began a relentless push for the White House to send a new AUMF to Congress, one specifically designed for the war on ISIS, laying out the goals of the operation, a definition of “success” in the operation, a strategy for achieving that success and a roadmap for getting out.
That finally came in February, but despite the best efforts of Kaine and his Republican ally, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, it remains in legal limbo.
Why? Quite simple, really. No one — neither Democrats nor Republicans — wants to touch the issue. GOP foes contend the president’s AUMF is too weak and shortsighted; Democrats opposed to it say it’s too open-ended. And they’re all content to let all responsibility for the operation and any consequences rest on President Obama’s shoulders.
That is nothing short of malfeasance in office, official dereliction of duty on the part of Congress. It’s pure cowardice, as Sen. Kaine has pointed out time and again. Congress has a role to play when U.S. troops are sent into action, and by not doing its duty, Congress is merely playing politics with their lives. And no action is going to come for weeks, as Congress, conveniently, is on vacation.
Were it not for Kaine and his handful of supporters, no one would care, either.
