American troops in Iraq and Syria have come under increased attack with drones and rockets from Iranian-backed militias, says United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin.
In response, the U.S. has attacked facilities in Syria used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“The president has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel and its interests,” said Austin last week.
If that is indeed the case, what, exactly, are United States military personnel doing in Iraq and Syria?
“There’s no applicable authorization under U.S. law for U.S. forces to be in Iraq or Syria,” noted former Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan on Twitter. “Keeping bases and troops there puts Americans at risk and sets the stage for a war that the American people did not and do not approve. Bring them home.”
That’s right.
Still on the books are the authorizations for use of military force passed by Congress in 2001 to go after the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks and in 2002 to give President George W. Bush the green light to fight the government of Saddam Hussein.
Here we are around the corner from 2024, and these authorizations are decades beyond their relevance. And yet, American troops still find themselves stuck in the Middle East with no congressionally-debated and approved reason for being there.
With the ongoing crisis in Gaza, it is not in America’s interests to risk getting sucked into a broader Middle East conflict. It is irresponsible for President Biden alone to be empowered to put troops in harm’s way and for Congress to be totally AWOL.
“If the case were important enough to require reprisal, and ripe for that step, Congress must be called on to take it; the right of reprisal being expressly lodged with them by the Constitution, and not with the Executive,” wrote Thomas Jefferson.
Over the last two decades, Congress has totally abdicated its constitutional responsibilities and ceded warmaking entirely to the executive branch. We can only hope that America doesn’t get sucked into more wars.
