Thanks as always to The Other McCain, Pirate’s Cove, Bacon Time and Whores and Ale for the Rule Five links! And thanks as always to our blogger pals over at The Daley Gator for the double-barreled linkages. If you aren’t reading all these blogs daily, you should be!
Now this is something that’s way overdue. Excerpt:
On Wednesday (March 3), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) introduced a bipartisan bill that would strip President Biden of his war powers after his decision to launch airstrikes against Iranian-back proxies in Syria last week.
The bill “would repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations that cleared the way for a prolonged military conflict in Iraq, culminating in calls from Democrats and Republicans alike to end the so-called ‘forever wars’ in the region,” POLITICO reported.
“Last week’s airstrikes in Syria show that the executive branch, regardless of party, will continue to stretch its war powers,” Kaine explained. “Congress has a responsibility to not only vote to authorize new military action, but to repeal old authorizations that are no longer necessary.”
“The 1991 and 2002 AUMFs that underpinned the war against Iraq need to be taken off the books to prevent their future misuse,” he continued. “They serve no operational purpose, keep us on a permanent war footing, and undermine the sovereignty of Iraq, a close partner. I call on Congress to promptly take up this measure and for the Biden administration to support it to finally show the American people that the Article I and II branches can work together on these issues.”
Young similarly argued that the usage of old authorizations underlines the neglect of Congress to “perform its constitutionally-mandated oversight role.”
One wonders, though:
Why now?
Why not two years ago? Five? Ten? Frankly these Authorization of Military Force bills should come with an end date, to prevent precisely the forever-war situation in which we find ourselves now. These did not, and we can argue that, but the question remains:
Why now?
Well, there’s one obvious answer, of course, and that’s that few people seem to think President Biden(‘s handlers) is up to the considerable task of Commander in Chief. There’s an un-Constitutional effort to take away his sole authority over nuclear launches, which isn’t really sole as a second-man rule applies.
Why now? This measure, backed by Republicans and Democrats alike, along with the heavy measure of control the Administration’s un-elected bureaucrats clearly have over him, can only be seen as another indicator that President Biden is failing. Not even 100 days into office, and he’s failing, not only policy-wise but mentally. Those un-elected bureaucrats, of course, like this; it leaves them effectively in charge. And that’s a really, really bad place for the country to be.
