Why Cameron Recalled Parliament and Obama Ignored Congress

[Draggingtree]

The American Conservative: Why Cameron Recalled Parliament and Obama Ignored Congress

By DANIEL LARISON • September 25, 2014, 11:18 PM

Carol Giacomo praises Cameron for recalling Parliament to debate and vote on U.K. participation in the ISIS war:

 

One democratic leader has decided to ask his country’s legislature to vote before going to war. Pity that it isn’t President Obama.

 

Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday recalled Parliament, which was in recess (just as Congress is). It will convene on Friday to consider whether Britain should cooperate with the United States in conducting air strikes against Islamic State targets in northern Iraq.

 

Mr. Cameron’s proposal to join the U.S.-led military operation has the backing of all three main political parties, so it is expected to win approval comfortably.

[Draggingtree]

Recall Congress to Vote on the Syrian War

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN • September 26, 2014, 12:00 AM

 

“Once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end.

 

“War’s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision.”

 

So said Gen. MacArthur in some of the wisest counsel the old soldier ever gave his countrymen. Yet, “prolonged indecision” would seem the essence of the war the president has begun to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State.

 

For, following only one night of bombing in Syria, Gen. Bill Mayville, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs, asked to estimate how long this new war would last, replied: “I would think of it in terms of years.”

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/buchanan/recall-congress-to-vote-on-the-syrian-war/

[Draggingtree]

Congress should pass an authorization for using force against the Islamic State

 

By Editorial Board September 25 at 8:44 PM

 

AT THE United Nations on Wednesday, President Obama offered a powerful case for war against the Islamic State. “This group has terrorized all who they come across in Iraq and Syria,” he said. “There can be no reasoning — no negotiation — with this brand of evil. The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force.”

 

On moral grounds, Mr. Obama’s argument is irrefutable. Unfortunately, his legal justification for U.S. air attacks in Iraq and Syria is weaker. The administration submitted a letter to the United Nations saying that it was entitled to act under the “collective right of self-defense,” because the government of Iraq had asked the United States to “lead international efforts to strike [islamic State] sites and military strongholds in Syria” in order to defend Iraq

 

Legal experts contest both of Mr. Obama’s assertions. They point out that neither the U.N. Security Council nor the Syrian government have authorized U.S. military action in Syria;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-should-pass-an-authorization-for-using-force-against-the-islamic-state/2014/09/25/7f1ce6c2-4413-11e4-b437-1a7368204804_story.html

[Draggingtree]

Seven Awful Reasons for Bypassing Congress on ISIS The Constitution is clear on war powers, and yet Congress may not weigh in until next year.

By W. JAMES ANTLE III • September 29, 2014

Maybe if we’re lucky, Congress will vote on the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria—already underway—sometime next year. While a few brave souls are calling for a vote before then, the midterm elections seem to overrule the Constitution.

 

Perhaps lawmakers hope the ISIS intervention will be completed successfully before the next Congress is seated, obviating any need to take a political risk. But after two wars in the region that each went on longer than World War II, this seems highly unlikely.

 

Yet some people don’t think Congress should have to vote at all. More than a few defenders of expansive presidential war powers say they are

 

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/seven-awful-reasons-for-bypassing-congress-on-isis/