Article II of the United States Constitution gives the president the role of ‘Commander-in-Chief’ of the US’s Armed Forces, and this role provides the basis for rapid and effective decision-making, whilst maintaining the credibility of the USA’s foreign policy on the world stage. However, there are certain constraints on the President’s role as Commander-in-Chief’. One constraint on this power is that only Congress has the power to declare war. Congress can also authorise the president to deploy his country’s armed forces. Since the Constitution was created, Congress has only declared war a total of five times (in both World Wars, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War), and this power has not been used since 1941. These authorisations are ordered by the President however, showing just how interlinked the powers of the president and Congress really are. One example of when the timing of a congressional authorisation can be crucial is the vote on action against Iraq, a few months before the 2002 midterm elections. This congressional authorisation was manipulated by George W Bush, and shows that the president can take advantage of this and make a decision with a Congress that has a majority of his party as members, rather than waiting until after a midterm when he might not be so sure as to have a key decision go his way. The relationship between Congress and the president was confirmed by the War Powers Act of 1973, passed in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.…
My initial reaction would be to side with Congress. The War Powers Resolution allows the president to engage in an act of war without the consent of congress only in the case of an attack on the United States, or by “statutory authorization”. Based on this, the legislative branch seems to be in the right in this situation. I would ask the president questions pertaining to the goals of the US forces in the region, and questions to Congress such as to their opposition to the presidents actions.…
If there will be any collision between the President and Congress, they can impeach the president, but the complaint is that the president should stay involved in a decision that’s illegal and not for the American people. “Throughout U.S. history, presidents have used their power as head of the military to involve the nation in many conflicts abroad without a formal declaration of war by Congress, and they have found other ways to get around imposed limitations on their ability to give direction to American foreign policy.” (Making Foreign…
Many people are affected by the war in Syria, many people have had to move to different countries in order to have better lives for their families. In document A, it shows a pie graph about how many civilians died more than anyone. All Refugees fled to a nearby countries plus Europe but, the most popular was Turkey. In document C, it says how at least six people died in a wave of sectarian bloodshed in the central province of Homs, including three people whose…
According to Section 2, Article 2, “The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States” This reserves the President the right to make military decisions without the knowledge of Congress as long as Congress has approved the war.…
For 6 years Syria has been at war with itself. In these 5-6 years many people have died. And many towns and cities left and ruined. The beginning of the fifth year of the war half a quarter million people have been killed. And over 10 million have been forced to leave their homes. And it all began with the actions of peaceful protestors. Which has cost the lives of 100,000 people and forced over two million to flee to the relative safety of neighboring countries. This conflict has captured the world’s attention because of the tactics employed by the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Unarmed civilians were attacked and killed by government troops as they searched for the most effective and seemingly brutal method for quelling this uprising. Now there are some US politicians, who feel that it is the duty of our country to get involved militarily, but this with two wars already fought the past ten years, there seems to be little to no public support for this type of move. The United States is not the world’s policeman and should let countries solve their own problems.…
THE RISE OF THE USA AS A WORLD POWER (1890 1945) USA Presidents A Chronology 1. George Washington (1789-97)…
As President Barack Obama considers military action in response to Bashar al-Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria, a debate over whether he must seek Congress' consent has surfaced. It's a debate with which the president is extremely familiar.…
At the end of and following the Civil War, three amendments to the constitution were proposed and ratified: the 13th (1865), 14th (1868), and 15th (1870). These amendments are commonly known as the Reconstruction amendments and are also called Civil War amendments, Civil Rights amendments, or Equality amendments.…
1. Choose a major US diplomatic crisis to review. After some research, write a 2-page on the crisis. Focus on how the U.S. State Department worked to diffuse the crisis.…
American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria's chemical weapons are being eliminated." That was President Obama in his State of the Union Tuesday, boasting about what he regards as one of his signature achievements from 2013. Well, not so fast.…
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was kicked out of the terrorist group al-Qaeda for not recognizing Ayman al-Zawahiri as their leader. Instead ISIS saw Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as their leader. ISIS is very focused on acquiring more land from Iraq and Syria, and to do so they use methods much harsher than that of al-Qaeda’s methods. They are much more violent, strict, and ruthless. ISIS is very rich from oil refineries and ransoms, which raise hundreds of millions of dollars used to fund their government that is strictly based off of Islamic religion.…
The year of 2014 has proven to be that no president gets a free pass when it comes to difficult international decisions. Over the last term and a half, the Obama administration really has been picking up the disruptions of the Middle East right where Bush left them while simultaneously being dealt with more issues of diplomacy. The occurrences involving Ukraine and Syria have, in opinion, shown the current administrations true colors. It is the prime example of the realism ideology and the contrast between “hard” and “soft” power. In both situations, Obama has shown great reluctance in putting to use the American military. Although tens of thousands Syrians have been murdered and Ukraine has been under direct attack from Russia, present administration has moved from the “hard power” that killed Osama bin Laden and essentially ended the war in Iraq to a potential isolationist. However, as some could argue, like Stephan M. Walt, “foreign policy is not philanthropy.” Unless allies have direct benefits for the United States, perhaps the nation has no business jumping to the rescue (Walt). In other words, America is once again bringing focus back to the home front and has the potential of taking a more realist approach to foreign policy than ever before. If the nation truly does not want to look out for the interest of fellow democratic states simply because it…
economic job market often dictates that it is up to the President to find solutions. Thus, the President’s role as a policy maker is of upmost importance. Furthermore, foreign policy matters such as ISIS and Islamic terrorism has now made it imperative for the president to implement & introduce policies that deal with these issues. According to Edwards and Wayne (Pg. 474), the president is considered better at dealing with foreign policy for a few reasons. First, presidents usually have more knowledge available to them and have more authority in foreign affairs. For example, a President’s expert judgement is crucial in dealing with foreign policy, since many of these situations usually have an uncertain outcome. Second, presidents have become much more active in foreign affairs over time. A major reason for this is because the President is now able to act more quickly and decisively than Congress when pursuing foreign policy. Furthermore, interest groups no longer dominate the foreign policy arena and presidents have the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation. Hence, the president has the right to involve the United States in any issue that he feels is prominent and…
Back in the spring of 2011 Syria began a brutal civil war that crippled the infrastructure leaving 3 main factions fighting for power. The United States decided to intervene and support the Syrian Rebel Army in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad’s suspected use of chemical weapons against the people of Syria. If this were in fact accurate and America’s only reason for uniting forces with them was to overthrow a tyrannical leader, then I believe America would have been in accordance with the Just War Theory. Yet history shows us that we (Americans) usually have an ulterior motive behind the silver lining. If we look back to the year 2003 and the invasion of Iraq we again see that in the peoples’ eyes there was a just reason for why we were sending our armies. Weapon of Mass…