Obama’s AUMF should be DOA

The abject failure of leadership by Barack Obama continues apace. The draft AUMF submitted to Congress is just another example of an administration that is so pathological that it feels like it must lie to stay in practice. For instance, Obama’s own letter to Congress simply lies about the nature of the operation. His letter says:

My Administration’s draft AUMF would not authorize long‑term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our Nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Local forces, rather than U.S. military forces, should be deployed to conduct such operations.  The authorization I propose would provide the flexibility to conduct ground combat operations in other, more limited circumstances, such as rescue operations involving U.S. or coalition personnel or the use of special operations forces to take military action against ISIL leadership.  It would also authorize the use of U.S. forces in situations where ground combat operations are not expected or intended, such as intelligence collection and sharing, missions to enable kinetic strikes, or the provision of operational planning and other forms of advice and assistance to partner forces.

In fact, the AUMF says nothing of the kind:

(c) LIMITATIONS.— The authority granted in subsection (a) does not authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces in enduring offensive ground combat operations.

There is nothing in this resolution that limits either the size or the scope of US military involvement. Congress should view this through the lens of ObamaCare and his amnesty program and realize they are dealing with a man who simply cannot be trusted to carry out the black letter of the law much less keep his word.

What Obama is doing is asking Congress to withdraw his current authority under the AUMF. This clearly covers ISIS and Obama says so in his letter:

Although existing statutes provide me with the authority I need to take these actions,

Why would he do this? Because he doesn’t want to fight ISIS for reasons only known to him and the mouthbreathers who are directing our national security at the moment. By framing the AUMF as a limited action he will be able to blame Congress… and the GOP… for his lack of accomplishment.

Congress should either send this monstrosity back the the White House and tell him that they agree the existing AUMF gives him all the authority he needs to prosecute the war against ISIS or it should pass an AUMF that unambiguously authorizes Obama to use the full might of the US military in the fight so he has no way to evade his responsibility.

The AUMF Obama has submitted to Congress is a contemptible exercise in political posturing. The

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