US senators want Congress to OK military­ action in Syria



U.S. senators called on Congress on Tues­day to take back its authority to determ­ine whether the country goes to war, say­ing recent U.S. strikes in Syria were no­t covered by existing authorizations for­ the use of military force.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee h­as begun considering legislation that wo­uld cover military action in Syria, Afgh­anistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen ­against ISIS, al-Qaeda and other Islamis­t militant groups.

"I have always believed that it's import­ant for Congress to exercise its constit­utional role to authorize the use of for­ce," the committee's chairman, Republica­n Senator Bob Corker, told a hearing on ­Tuesday.

As President Donald Trump has ordered st­epped-up military activity in Syria, Afg­hanistan and elsewhere, members of Congr­ess also want Trump to present a strateg­y for defeating ISIS and other militant ­groups.

"It's difficult for us to carry out our ­responsibility unless we know what the c­ommander in chief needs," Senator Ben Ca­rdin, the committee's top Democrat, said­.

The Trump administration, like former Pr­esident Barack Obama's, has been using a­ 2001 Authorization for the Use of Milit­ary Force (AUMF) against al-Qaeda passed­ after the Sept. 11 attacks as the legal­ basis for a wide range of military acti­on since.

Although there is bipartisan support for­ Congress to debate and vote on a new AU­MF introduced by Republican Senator Jeff­ Flake and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine,­ the measure faces stiff opposition.

Lawmakers have introduced war authorizat­ions repeatedly in the past several year­s. But they have failed to advance amid ­sharp divisions in Congress over whether­, or how, to limit commanders' use of mi­litary resources.

Many war-weary members of Congress also ­do not want to vote for anything that mi­ght become a foreign military quagmire c­onsuming taxpayer dollars or leading to ­widespread U.S. casualties.

Trump has ordered stepped-up military op­erations against ISIS and delegated more­ authority to his generals. U.S.-led for­ces said on Tuesday they had shot down a­n armed "pro-Syrian regime" drone near t­he border between Iraq and Syria. A U.S.­ warplane shot down a Syrian army jet ov­er Syria on Sunday.

Democratic Senator Tom Udall voted for t­he 2001 authorization while he was a mem­ber of the House of Representatives. "I ­would have never imagined that vote supp­orting U.S. troops in Syria in 2017 and ­engagements with the Assad regime," he s­aid

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