The War on ISIS: Get All In or Get Out

There are probably few things that Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Rand Paul, junior U.S. senators from Virginia and Kentucky respectively, agree on politically, but when it comes to war, they’re on the same page.

Kaine — a moderate, left-of-center former governor and early backer of Barack Obama in 2008 — and Paul — the isolationist, libertarian son of former U.S. Rep. and presidential candidate Ron Paul — are locked in a battle with the White House to force President Obama to seek congressional approval to the United States’ latest foray into the Mideast: the war against the so-called Islamic State.

Before the president even announced the allied bombing campaign against ISIS militants and their self-declared caliphate in western Iraq and eastern Syria, Kaine mounted a spirited campaign calling for the White House to seek authorization under the War Powers Act of any military action. As he quite rightly pointed out, time and again, only Congress has the constitutional authority to commit the United States and its military forces to war.

The White House disagreed, claiming President Obama already has Congress’ authorization: the approval, after the 9/11 attacks, of the use of military force against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, along with other, related terror targets.

But this is the problem: The Islamic State and its self-declared caliphate have nothing — absolutely nothing — to do with either al-Qaida or 9/11. ISIS wasn’t even in existence when the jets flew into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.

Earlier this week, Paul upped the pressure on the White House, introducing declaration-of-war legislation in the Senate.

In introducing his declaration of war, Paul was blunt in assessment of President Obama’s campaign against ISIS: “I believe the president must come to Congress to begin a war and that Congress has a duty to act. Right now. this war is illegal until Congress acts pursuant to the Constitution and authorizes.”

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 — referred to as the War Powers Clause — is quite explicit in its language: “[The Congress shall have Power...] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water … .”

Only five wars have been officially declared by Congress: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. There have been, quite literally, dozens of so-called “military actions” Congress hasn’t wanted to touch with a 10-foot pole.

But the political cowardice of past Congresses shouldn’t deter Congress today doing its constitutionally mandated duty.

Kaine and Paul are dead right in their calls for Congress to sign off on the ISIS military campaign — the “war” as President Obama called it, and rightly want to restore Congress’ prerogative. It’s all about restoring constitutional balance, something sorely missing in the nation’s capital.

Restoring that constitutional balance would also force the buy-in of the legislative branch of the federal government to the mission against the Islamic State. As history shows, America is strongest on the battlefield when its government is united.

###