Senate Resolution 361 is a long-winded recitation of North Korean offenses that ends with a statement affirming Congress’ constitutional authority to declare war. It wouldn’t be necessary if Congress hadn’t abdicated that solemn responsibility to prior presidents. But if they fail to reclaim it now, America may slide in the annals of history as an uncivilized nation that set off a nuclear war.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan was one the six co-sponsors when S.361 was introduced last month. On the same issue, a smaller group submitted S.2016 in October. That had a companion in the House – H.R.4140 – with 61 members on board. The main problem with all three is they’ve been referred to committees where they sit in obscurity. There’s no other action, hearings or serious media coverage about them.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported President Trump is considering limited “bloody nose” strikes against North Korean targets in retaliation for any further nuclear or missile tests. And he seems to have little interest in getting congressional authorization before taking such action.
As a candidate, Trump argued it was bad policy to broadcast troop level changes and withdrawal plans in Afghanistan. By extension, projecting unpredictability into the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs might be his strategy to keep the enemy guessing. And it would be undermined if Congress was to debate and vote on authorizing it before he could act.
Plus, there are several precedents for him to initiate the attack without congressional authorization.
In 1983, President Reagan invaded Grenada without it. Aside from an impeachment resolution that was never advanced, Congress never challenged him afterwards.
Congress didn’t respond in any way at all after President George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989.
In 1999, President Clinton commenced NATO led airstrikes in Yugoslavia with only approval of the Senate. A month after the bombing began, the House voted 427 to 2 against a declaration of war. Instead of submitting articles of impeachment, several members filed a lawsuit. But the court ruled they lacked legal standing to sue the president partly because approval was implied in two related congressional actions.
And more recently, President Obama requested authorization to use military force against ISIS in Iraq and Syria but proceeded without Congress having ever considered it.
What’s different here though is, as acknowledged in S.361, immediately following airstrikes, South Korea and Japan would be the likely targets of North Korean retaliation. A long ground war would follow. Or, in Trump’s words, it could escalate into “fire and fury like the world has never seen,” a possibility CIA director Mike Pompeo declined to rule out this past week. Either way, hundreds of thousands of people will be killed, including tens of thousands of American military and civilian personnel stationed in the region.
In other words, because the military resistance in those other conflicts hardly put Americans or our allies at risk, Congress got away with skirting its responsibility. But in doing so, they clouded the constitutional definition and necessity of a war declaration.
Sullivan is one Senator who recognizes this is wrong.
Still, I believe there’s a serious shortcoming to S.361. It only requires Congress to authorize a “pre-emptive or preventative ground war on the Korean Peninsula.” I don’t understand how an airstrike that’s likely to lead to such a war is not itself an act of war that needs congressional authorization.
The others don’t miss this point. But all three are worthless if the majority in congress leaves such decision making to the commander-in-chief without even a debate.
Following that path may grant the unpredictable posture Trump and his national security team desire. But if anyone thinks the element of surprise is the best approach to ensuring military success, consider America’s outrage in 1941, expressed by President Roosevelt, when Japan “deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace” up to the very day of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Masking military intentions behind overtures of peace isn’t just deceitful. It’s uncivilized. I believe our founders gave Congress its war-making powers to ensure the president makes an honest diplomatic effort to avoid it. And with two leaders bragging about the capability of their nuclear buttons, abdicating that imperils the entire world.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. He contributes a regular “My Turn” to the Juneau Empire. My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.
