Readers,
Last month – six months after he unilaterally launched an offensive involving over 2,000 airstrikes and the deployment of 3,000 “military advisors” – President Obama finally sent Congress a draft Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Islamic State (more popularly known as ISIS or ISIL).
Now, there is no doubt that the group responsible for a large number of horrific and gruesome murders deserves everything that they have coming to them from the various nations that they’ve managed to offend thus far. In fact, we’d love to see every last ISIS radical eradicated.
But just how much authority are we as a nation willing to give our executive branch in order to achieve this righteous goal?
President Obama already has a reputation for acting without Congressional approval. He’s made it clear that he’s willing to use executive orders to achieve what Congress will or cannot. And the AUMF that his administration has submitted is so broad as to grant him nearly unfettered authority to conduct the offensive against ISIS in any manner he sees fit.
President Obama has continued to take the stance that his actions to date have been and are authorized under a previous AUMF passed in 2001 after the attacks of 9/11. The language of that particular authorization has been stretched to the breaking point to enable a globe-spanning war with virtually non-existent limits. If President Obama has such authority already, why does he need Congress to bless the new AUMF?
The new order does nothing to rescind or restrict the authority purportedly granted by the previous AUMF that Obama claims to be acting under. Furthermore, the newly proposed AUMF is overly broad in its terms as well. It’s not a stretch to imagine that as it stands currently, the AUMF proposed by the President is just the next step in a never ending war that has no clearly defined goals or end in sight.
We acknowledge the need to take action against ISIS, and hope that whatever course our government takes swiftly and surely eradicates the disgusting radicalism that group represents. We just hope that our nation emerges from the conflict with our freedoms and ideals intact.
Until next month,
Esther Fournier
Publisher & Editor
American Recycler News
Published in the March 2015 Edition of American Recycler News