Comment on Who decides when the US goes to "war"
setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 months agoThe War Powers Act limits use of force by the President to 60 days of military operations. After that.
Congress still authorizes extended operations, even if they are not declarations of war.
For example, the Authorization for Use of Military Force 2001 authorized military force “against those responsible for the September 11 attacks”, which authorized both operations in Afghanistan and more global force. This has been controversial, as the interpretation of which groups were partially responsible has been broadly interpreted. However it was still a congressionally approved authorization. Congress could, if it so desired revoke that authorization.
Separately, the invasion of Iraq was authorized by Congress by the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
So Biden, or any president could essentially start a conflict/war/whatever between the election and inauguration has been my take away.
I am fascinated by the minutae of hypothetical government actions, because it seems like at this point we are going down a road where they are more likely.
Dagwood222@lemm.ee 5 months ago
There’s what’s legally possible, and what can be done in reality.
No one is going to let Biden unilaterally attack Canada; he’d be impeached AND thrown out under the 25th Amendment five minutes after he announced the attack.
originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 5 months ago
You say that but that isn’t how it would happen.
There would be months or years of prep work, spreading propaganda that Canada was the source of our woes, that they were wronging us. By the time we invaded there’d be just enough “legitimate discourse” about the invasion that the Presidents supporters could claim any effort to stop him was political.
There was a time not long ago where people said you couldn’t do lots of things or you’d get thrown out - then Trump did many of them, even got impeached (twice!) and stayed in office. In practice, these limits are at best inconvenient for a dedicated lunatic.
Dagwood222@lemm.ee 5 months ago
No analogy is going to be perfect.
setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 months ago
If a President wants to fart on the way out, they have a lot of authority. The President alone has sole authority to launch a nuclear strike, with no need for oversight by anyone else, so there are certainly bigger plays than “merely” authorizing ground forces to partake in a conflict.
Recency bias makes everything in the now seem more important, and more uncertain than things in the past were at the time. There are many mitigating factors in a President who is on the way out who orders military intervention out of spite that will make it likely much less catastrophic than you might imagine.