Rand Paul calls for debate over war authorization

[jct74]

Rand Paul calls for debate over war authorization

Mary Troyan
June 7, 2016

WASHINGTON – On the same day Sen. Rand Paul honored soldiers who fought and died in a long-ago war, he renewed his call for strict new limits on the next conflict.

The Kentucky Republican, who earlier this year abandoned a presidential bid and is running for re-election, wants Congress to vote on whether to grant President Barack Obama specific new authority to use military force against the jihadist Islamic State, or ISIS. Without it, Paul says, military operations against ISIS violate the Constitution.

“War is such an important and terrible thing that it has to be very visibly debated in a significant way,” he said.

After spending Tuesday morning at the World War II Memorial with the Bluegrass Chapter of Honor Flight, Paul said in an interview that authorizations for war issued after the 2001 terrorist attacks don't cover Obama’s more recent actions against ISIS in the region.

“I’m very supportive of our soldiers … but if you’re not willing to debate it and give clear instructions that the American people are behind it, that worries me,” he said.

Specifically, Paul wants to add a provision to a fiscal 2017 defense policy bill that says the 2001 and 2002 use-of-force authorizations are invalid for the global war on terror. His sense-of-the-Senate amendment would not result in any change in the law but would force every senator to take a position on the issue.

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read more:
http://www.courier-journal.com/story...tion/85565122/

[jct74]

[jct74]

Talks more about authorization for war in this article about his visit to WWII memorial. Also mentions 28 pages.

Exclusive — Rand Paul at World War II Memorial: ‘Freedom Is Not Free,’ I Am ‘Proud of Our Veterans’

by MATTHEW BOYLE
8 Jun 2016

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Tuesday morning joined a group of World War II and other veterans at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall for an honor flight with Honor Flight of the Bluegrass.

Paul told Breitbart News:

We’re proud of our veterans and we’re proud of their service to the country. The saying is ‘freedom is not free,’ it takes a great deal of sacrifice from our veterans from both the World War II era and [other eras]. I met people here today from World War II, I met Korean War veterans, I met Vietnam veterans, I met Iraq war veterans—and sometimes all in the same family. One family had mother and father or grandmother and grandfather and they both served in World War II and the young men that were pushing them around were Vietnam War veterans that were their sons. There’s a lot of proud traditions of families—multi-generational families—who have served the country.

Paul, a one-time presidential candidate who dropped out after the Iowa caucuses and has since backed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in Kentucky. But this trip with veterans—and his work in the U.S. Senate, oftentimes regarded as the most interesting and independent in a hyper-partisan age—is focused more on giving back to the 84 veterans from Kentucky on this honor flight. Eighty percent of the veterans on the trip were World War II vets, with an average age over 92-years-old.

Paul, a noted skeptic of the use of military force when unnecessary, told Breitbart News that he believes Congress and the executive branch have lost that sense of what is in the national interest when deciding whether or not to go to war these days. When asked during his exclusive interview with Breitbart News about his thoughts on the difference between World War II and today’s battles on the world stage, Paul argued that the political class in Washington, D.C., right now does not appreciate what is in America’s interest when making these decisions. Paul said:

Well one of the important things our Founding Fathers put forward was that Congress would approve of wars, the people would approve of it through Congress. And I think when we’ve been attacked our country has been unified really in responding to say we’re going to rebel all attackers. So when we were attacked in Pearl Harbor, the vote was nearly unanimous in Congress. I think it was the next day, the day after Pearl Harbor, Congress came in and voted nearly unanimous. The same way when we were attacked on 9/11, we came back a few weeks later and we voted to go to war with the people who attacked us on 9/11. I think that’s what our Founding Fathers intended, but it’s also a better way to go to war. When you have to go to war the country needs to be unified, and one way you unify the country is by Congress voting on whether or not we should be at war, and what are the terms of the engagement.

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read more:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...roud-veterans/

[Ender]

Two Thumbs Up for Rand.

[jct74]

more from Rand at WWII memorial talking about war authorization (on CNN w/ Jake Tapper)

[r3volution 3.0]

Paul wants to add a provision to a fiscal 2017 defense policy bill that says the 2001 and 2002 use-of-force authorizations are invalid for the global war on terror.

IIRC, this is a top issue with the newly founded (Paul and Koch associated) Defense Priorities thinktank.

...could be major movements underway.