A debate that permeated a congressional panel at Munich Security Conference is the same question that often permeates Washington: whether an administration should seek congressional authorization for military acts of deterrence.
One attendee addressing the panel at the conference said he winced at the thought of U.S. failed actions in Syria — seeing “that operation unravel, micromanaged, looked over… And then Russians stepped in and the rest is contemporary history.”
He was referring to the effort by President Obama in 2013 to garner congressional support for strikes against Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack. It ultimately failed. No other authorizations to attack the Islamic State ever happened — and some argue that lack of action in the region became a mark on the Obama presidency. Read More