Latest in AUMF: Syria
Last night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) along with four other Republican co-sponsors, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), introduced a broad Authorization for the Use of Military Force against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
On Friday, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers sent Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) a letter calling for him to schedule a vote on a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against the Islamic State.
[UPDATE: The Pentagon has released the transcript of a press briefing today, addressing the SOF deployment to Syria among other things. The DOD official explained that, for now, these operators will not accompany the units they assist when those units go into the field, in contrast to current policy for at least some circumstances in Iraq.
...the Russian legislature, that is.
Alongside the Kremlin's newly-minted air campaign against ISIS in Syria (or against forces other than ISIS, as the case may be) comes news that the Russian parliament has approved a Putin-backed authorization for military deployment to Syria. More from the Washington Post:
The Hill is reporting this morning that Republican congressional leaders have declared the President's AUMF proposal dead:
President Obama’s proposal for the use of military force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is dead in the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy declared on Monday.
The California Republican said Obama’s draft authorization for the use of military force, or AUMF, could not win the 218 votes needed to pass the lower chamber, and suggested key GOP-led co
Earlier this morning, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard testimony from Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey on the president's proposed Authorization for the Use
On Thursday of this week, Lawfare’s Benjamin Wittes and Bobby Chesney, along with General Jack Keane, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee to provide “Outside Perspectives on the President’s Proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.”
The hearing grappled with a number of difficult and vitally necessary questions: What exactly does "enduring ground combat operations" mean? Should the AUMF sunset after three years?
Prepared Testimony of Robert Chesney
Charles I. Francis Professor in Law
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Director, Strauss Center for International Security & Law
The University of Texas at Austin
Before the House Armed Services Committee
February 26, 2015
At 10 am, Lawfare's Benjamin Wittes and Bobby Chesney, along with General Jack Keane, will provide testimony before the House Armed Services Committee today regarding the Obama administration's proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIL.
[Cross-posted at Just Security]
With congressional hearings on the Obama Administration’s proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) for the Islamic State on the horizon, we propose six questions that Members of Congress should ask Administration witnesses:
1. What, exactly, is our strategic military objective?