In 2011 we criticized President Obama for ordering a missile attack on Libya without first obtaining authorization from Congress. His rationale was, as long as no American military personnel were put at risk in the operation, his powers as Commander in Chief sufficed. At the time we called this view shortsighted, because it ignored the longer-term political consequences of committing an act of war on an adversary who might, in some way, be able to strike back. “The Drone Exception to the War Powers Resolution,” we wrote, “presents a standing temptation to future Presidents and sets a dangerous precedent.”
President Trump has now followed that precedent in a much more consequential situation. Syria is the Spanish Civil War of this decade, only more chaotic, because it’s multipolar. In that unhappy country, the Sunni-Shia war is being fought for control of the government with the aid of foreign patrons. By attacking a Syrian air base with missiles, as a gesture of punishment for the use of nerve gas, the United States has now taken sides in that war in opposition to President Assad’s patrons, Russia and Iran. This may be just a one-shot expression of presidential outrage, the high-explosive equivalent of a 5 a.m. tweetstorm. After all, two weeks ago, our secretary of state and U.N. ambassador were saying that the United States could live with Assad. But no one knows.
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