In Article I, section 8 of the U. S. Constitution, Congress is granted the power to declare war. But in Article II, sec. 2, POTUS is granted the power to make war. This power follows from his being Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The difference between declaring and making war is the difference between words and actions. POTUS under the Constitution is under no obligation to get congressional approval for a military action. The Constitutional point is reasonably debatable. What decides the matter for me is the following.
A grave threat to the nation, an existential threat, whether strictly imminent, or likely to occur within, say, one year, has to be met by decisive and timely action — it cannot wait on the approval of an indecisive Congress. This ought to be blindingly evident especially when, as at the present time, roughly half the Congress is populated by reflexive hard-Left Democrats who oppose Trump no matter what he proposes or does. Chuck Schumer, for example, who not long ago was for voter ID is now opposed to it — for no better reason than that Trump is for it. Examples of this knee-jerk reflexivity are easily multiplied beyond all necessity.
Let’s also not forget that the Islamo-theocratic threat of Khameini & Co. to the Little and the Great Satans is both credible and nothing new. Credible, as is proved by a long list of outrages perpetrated against Americans, Israelis, and others. 7 October 2023 is just one item on the list. Nothing new, since dating from 1979.
Michael Liccione in a thoughtful and well-written Facebook post relates his fear that (in my way of putting it) the Islamist monster cannot be slain without American ‘boots on the ground.’ It’s a rational fear. But surely that fear was no good reason for not going forward with Epic Fury. I expect Liccione will agree.