NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 10 (RIA Novosti) – US President Barack Obama’s widely-anticipated escalation of attacks on the Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Iraq and Syria would exceed his authority without congressional approval, veteran lawmaker Paul Findley told RIA Novosti.
“If the president orders acts of war without congressional approval, he risks impeachment. If Obama wishes lawfully to order airstrikes in the territory of Iraq or Syria, he must first secure a resolution of approval from Congress,” Findley said on Tuesday.
“Our elected leaders are acting like jellyfish. Congress must decide whether to bomb Iraq or Syria, or both. The president has no authority to bomb either. He violates the constitution with every bomb he drops on Iraq. Ordering acts of war is too serious a decision to leave to one man.”
Obama met with Congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss his strategy to defeat jihadists from IS, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL. Obama told them he “has the authority he needs to take action”, the White House said in a statement.
Discussions came ahead of Obama’s primetime address to the US public on Wednesday, when he is expected to outline plans for defeating ISIS, which has declared a caliphate across a vast area of Iraq and Syria and governs as many as eight million people.
Findley served as a member of US House of Representatives for 22 years. He was a key author of the War Powers Resolution, which limited the power of US presidents to wage armed conflict overseas.
