WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill has been abuzz all week over President Barack Obama’s request for authority to use military force against Islamic State militants.
Obama unveiled his proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force on Wednesday, and it lays out parameters he wants on the military campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, or ISIS/ISIL. It would limit military action to three years. It allows for limited U.S. ground troops. It puts no geographic limits on the military campaign, instead limiting military action to countering ISIS and associated forces. The AUMF itself would expire in three years.
But the reality is that Obama’s proposal does nothing to impose new war limits. He’s made clear that he believes a sweeping 2001 AUMF already gives him the authority to use military force against ISIS — which he’s been doing, under that authority, for the past six months. But he has said he welcomes a new AUMF from Congress anyway, as a show of support for the mission. The proposal Obama sent to Congress doesn’t do anything to rein in the 2001 measure, which means that regardless of whether Congress passes an ISIS-specific authorization, that broad 2001 authority stays.
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That’s the approach Obama appears to be advocating.
“Although my proposed AUMF does not address the 2001 AUMF, I remain committed to working with the Congress and the American people to refine, and ultimately repeal, the 2001 AUMF,” the president wrote to Congress in a letter accompanying his war authorization proposal. “Enacting an AUMF that is specific to the threat posted by ISIL could serve as a model for how we can work together to tailor the authorities granted by the 2001 AUMF.”
