Going it alone: Obama may bypass Congress on Syria airstrikes
By Dave Boyer
The Washington Times
Monday, August 25, 2014
The White House said Monday that President Obama won’t necessarily seek congressional approval for airstrikes in Syria against militants of the Islamic State, while Syria warned the U.S. it would consider any unilateral attack an act of “aggression.”
As Mr. Obama’s advisers debated how to contain the terrorist group whose advances have caught the administration off guard, Obama officials also acknowledged they were caught flat-footed by a joint Egyptian-United Arab Emirates air attack against Islamist forces in Libya. The allies and military partners of the U.S. carried out two attacks in the past week in Libya without notifying Washington or seeking permission.
Mr. Obama, who met Monday with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on his first day back from vacation, “has not made a decision to pursue any military action in Syria,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. But he said the president doesn’t see the need to seek congressional approval as he did a year ago when he was considering an attack on the regime of Syrian leader Bashar Assad for its use of chemical weapons.
“That was a different situation,” Mr. Earnest said. “These are complicated situations, and they always will be.”
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