A Year After First Suggested, U.S. Bombing Syria. Authorization? LOL

Last summer, the Obama Administration briefly
toyed with the idea of bombing the Assad regime in Syria over the
alleged used of chemical weapons in the country. A last minute

off-the-cuff remark by Secretary of State John Kerry
capitalized on by the Russian foreign minister led to an
agreement that saw Syria self-disarm under international auspices.
In any case, a Western bombing of Syria was rejected by the

House of Commons in the United Kingdom. The White House
suggested it would seek Congressional authorization, realized it
likely wouldn’t, and tried to argue it
wouldn’t need it if it wanted to bomb Syria.

Today, the U.S. is finally bombing
Syria. Its targets are linked to ISIS, the Islamic State in
Iraq and al-Sham. The president did not seek or receive
congressional authorization for the operation, an extension of an
ongoing anti-ISIS bombing campaign in Iraq, one the White House

claims falls under the authorization of the use of military
force (AUMF) in Iraq passed by Congress in 2002. Sen. Rand Paul
(R-Ky.) submitted legislation to
repeal the Iraq AUMF at the beginning of the year, but the
Democrat-controlled Senate did not act on it. Democrats did not try
to repeal the AUMF even as President Obama ran for re-election in
2012 on the
claim that he ended the war in Iraq. Obama now says the
decision to end the war in Iraq was
not up to him, while Rand Paul believes the U.S. military ought
to
destroy ISIS, albeit with Congressional authorization.