Obama’s using the law that authorized attacks against al Qaeda to justify his new fight in Syria and Iraq. One small problem: ISIS and al Qaeda are at each others’ throats. Legal experts were shocked to learn Wednesday that the Obama administration wants to rely on that 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force against al Qaeda for the new ISIS war.
“On its face this is an implausible argument because the 2001 AUMF requires a nexus to al Qaeda or associated forces of al Qaeda fighting the United States,” said Robert Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “Since ISIS broke up with al Qaeda it’s hard to make that argument.”…
Obama’s top advisers are now saying that the 2001 congressional resolution that created the war against al Qaeda, known as an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), provides the president with the legal basis for his new war. “We believe he can rely on the 2001 AUMF for the airstrikes he is authorizating against ISIL,” a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday in a briefing on the president’s war speech.
That is ironic politically because just this spring Obama asked Congress to narrow the 2001 AUMF or even consider phasing it out.
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