Restore balance of power

Debating the wisdom of military action does not have to mean not trusting the president of the United States.

It’s time for Congress to step up and restore a balance of power in the use of U.S. military force that it has largely ceded since World War II.

While recent House amendments to the $733 billion defense authorization bill went too far, the call for limits on a president’s ability to start another war in the Middle East is welcome.

After deciding against a military strike on Iran following the downing of a U.S. drone, President Donald Trump asserted his right to authorize such action without Congress’ OK.

The president’s claim of authority to attack Iran, and potentially start a major war, appears to be tied to the post-9/11 congressional authorization that preceded the Iraq War of 2003 and our military’s nearly 18-year engagement in Afghanistan.

A State Department official said in a June letter that the administration had not yet interpreted that 2001 measure as authorizing war with Iran.

But the same letter appeared to do just that, by adding “except as may be necessary to defend U.S. or partner forces engaged in counterterrorism operations.”

As the letter’s recipient, U.S. Rep. Eliot L. Engel, a New York Democrat and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told The New York Times, that it’s “a loophole wide enough to drive a tanker through.”

In June the Senate unfortunately rejected a chance to narrow the gap between presidential and congressional war powers.

A bipartisan measure that would have required Congress’ OK before striking Iran failed on a 50-40 tally that required 60 votes to pass.

“We must tell the president and affirm to the American people that we will assume our constitutional responsibility,” said Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.

In response, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell managed to ignore the first part about congressional responsibility and hang his position solely on the president’s role as commander in chief of U.S. armed forces.

“The president made it absolutely clear that he is not interested in starting a war with Iran,” McConnell, R-Ky., said following the vote. “Everybody ought to take a deep breath.”

In this case, taking a deep breath appears to mean ignoring Congress’ role in major military actions — the power to declare war is its alone — and continuing the troubling trend of dodging that responsibility by ceding it to the president.

Debating the wisdom of military action does not have to mean not trusting the president of the United States. It can and should mean getting the nation behind him and our troops before such action is undertaken.

The president’s hands should not be tied if military force is needed to protect our nation, but that’s not what’s happening in the Persian Gulf. No vital U.S. interest was at stake in the dispute over whether the U.S. drone Iran shot down last month was over international or Iranian territorial waters.

While some House amendments passed recently go too far — tying military funds to other policy disputes that should be fought in court instead — Congress is well within its rights to insist on its central role in the use of force.

And Trump of all presidents should be sympathetic to an assertion of power that might limit long-term military engagements.

He’s the one, after all, who said in his State of the Union address that “As a candidate for president, I loudly pledged a new approach. Great nations do not fight endless wars.”

Debating the wisdom of military action does not have to mean not trusting the president of the United States.