U.S. lawmakers unveiled plans on Wednesday to use a decades-old law to force a Senate vote on whether to pull the country out of a foreign conflict, in this case the civil war in Yemen.
Republican Senator Mike Lee, independent Bernie Sanders and Democrat Chris Murphy said they would make the first attempt to take advantage of a provision in the 1973 War Powers Act that allows any senator to introduce a resolution on whether to withdraw U.S. armed forces from a conflict not authorized by Congress.
Given that our role is bombing jihadis and supporting Saudi efforts to counter Iranian influence, are these senators willing to take the blame for Yemen becoming an Iranian satellite or a jihadi sanctuary to strike America at home?
Ultimately, Congress has to approve of a war either by pre-approval or by funding the war effort. So Congress is free to try to end the war.
Face it, there are many ways for America to legally use force short of calling in the enemy ambassador and slapping him with a white glove.
And note I defended the legality of the Libya War notwithstanding my view that it was rather pointless.
The senators are free to introduce legislation to stop the American involvement in the war. But by funding the war effort for many years, Congress has in fact thus far authorized the war. It is not an illegal or unconstitutional war.
They are of course free to change their minds, as so many did on Iraq and Afghanistan despite formal pre-authorization of those wars.
