President Obama to critics who complain that U.S. military action against the Islamic State has been based on legal authorization that is sorely out of date and was never meant for this campaign.
The critics are right.
“It makes sense to make sure the authorization from Congress reflects what we perceive to be not just our strategy over the next two or three months, but our strategy going forward,” Obama said.
The 2001 authorization by Congress to fight al-Qaeda spoke of those responsible for the 9/11 attacks, which doesn’t fit the latest extremists. And the authorization of force for Iraq spoke of the need to neutralize what were thought to be weapons of mass destruction.
This is a new campaign, and it needs congressional approval that speaks to the new reality.
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