Kaine: Trump should have asked Congress to authorize Syria airstrikes

[TomCADem]

Source: Politico

Sen. Tim Kaine said Sunday the Trump administration should have sought congressional approval for Thursday's airstrikes against Syria.

“I’m a strong supporter that the U.S. should take action to protect humanitarian causes, like the ban on chemical weapons,” the Virginia Democrat said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." “Where I differ from this administration, and I took the same position with respect to President Obama, we are a nation that’s not supposed to take military action, start war, without a plan that’s presented to and approved by Congress.”

“We don’t have a system where the president gets to launch missiles against anyone they want to,” Kaine said.

Despite a White House briefing on Friday, the senator said Congress still has no sense of whether the Trump administration has a strategic plan to deal with Syria.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-congress-authorization-syria-tim-kaine-237044

[shenmue]

1. Right on

[Sunlei]

2. I read somewhere members of congress ( and Putin) were briefed hours before the strike.

IMO Republicans and trump, for some reason known ONLY to them, are still colluding with Russia and AGAINST Americans best interests.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Unknown reason

weaken the US and divide the spoils - natural resources, technology,etc -
amongst the victors and colluders

Nations always seek economic advantage

[Sunlei]

4. Putin took over Assads country. Old t(R)umps loose lips already spoke the wo(R)ds "Take their Oil"

Republicans want a cut of Putins action.

[former9thward]

8. Just because a country is in the Middle East does not mean they have oil.

Syria has only minor oil reserves and certainly none anyone wants in the present situation.

[Sunlei]

10. Take a cut of the industry revenue, cheap oil, minerals, port use, slave labor.

Republicans are like a legal mafia family. They take advantage of another country because they've always done 'Corporate business' this way.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. In a world awash in energy

it's to laugh they think it makes sense

[keithbvadu2]

5. 45 times Trump said attacking Syria was a bad idea and might start World War III

45 times Trump said attacking Syria was a bad idea and might start World War III

https://mic.com/articles/173471/trump-world-war-iii-attacking-syria-wwiii-ww3#.iLx50TgXn

[moondust]

14. Was he working for Putin back then?

[George II]

6. k

[former9thward]

7. That is naive and impossible.

Does he think Assad does not watch the news? Maybe Kaine thinks that C-Span is blocked in Syria. No president, including Obama, has done what Kaine is suggesting. And I don't remember Kaine complaining about Obama's drone attacks.

[George II]

11. Naive? Come on. And you should research Obama's drone attacks....

...they weren't directed against any facilities of the Syrian government, but against terrorist in Syria.

I can't believe you even tried to compare what trump did a few days ago and what Obama did when in office.

[TomCADem]

12. Obama Asked For Authorization. McConnell Said It Wasn't Necessary

Trump has done the exact opposite of President Obama. President Obama was trying to get a clearer AUMF from Congress, but it was McConnell who insisted that he already had authorization.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politics/mcconnell-obama-aumf-isis/

Washington (CNN)Just a week after President Barack Obama at his State of the Union address called on Congress to pass a fresh Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIS, Senate Majority Leader McConnell took a procedural step to put a measure on the floor.

The AUMF was written by Sen. Lindsey Graham, a vocal critic of the Obama administration's handling of Syria and ISIS, who said it is designed not to put limitations on where, when, or how the United States military pursues the group. That's in contrast, he argues, to the versions presented by the White House and Democrats on the Hill that restrict ground troops and sunset the authorization.

* * *
Almost all lawmakers say they want to pass an AUMF and argue it sends an important warning to the enemy as well as a reassuring signal of support to U.S. troops that would fight ISIS. But past efforts by Republicans and Democrats to approve one have broken down largely on partly lines about over the questions of whether and how to put restrictions on the use of force.

McConnell's move, which was largely unnoticed when he took it late Wednesday, was a surprise because McConnell indicated recently he didn't think a new AUMF was needed since the President is going after ISIS militarily based on a prior congressional authorization.

[riversedge]

13. K and R.