WASHINGTON—Last August, the United States began an attack against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) that is ongoing today and has resulted in more than 2,000 coalition airstrikes and 3,000 military advisers. The legal authority for these actions could be said to be a bit loose.
In February, five months after U.S. military involvement, President Barack Obama sent Congress a draft Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that was intended to be tailored to Iraq and Syria.
President Obama had said he wanted to work with Congress on a new AUMF. The administration maintains that the legal justification for the mission in Iraq and Syria is already provided by the 2001 AUMF against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, passed by Congress three days after the 9-11 attack—13 years ago.
But ISIS didn’t even exist in 2001. The 2001 AUMF, which is the longest-running authorization in American history, needs a “right-size and update,” the president said at a news conference last November. “We now have a different type of enemy. …How we partner with Iraq and other Gulf countries and the international coalition—that has to be structured differently,” Obama said.
