For progressives and those wanting to end the clusterfu*k that is "Post 9/11 America," Syria must be our "line in the sand," and we must keep the president to his words when talking about the "Authorization to Use Military Force," which he spoke about in May 2013. We should have an open debate about launching our 4th (or 7th or 8th if you consider our secret Dirty Wars) assault in the Middle East. The power elite has become a punchdrunk boxer who wants to insert themselves into every little conflict in the Middle East, and sooner or later the consequences of a small action may become the straw that broke the camels back.
What will happen when a country, like Syria, decides to lob a few missiles into Israel as a means of retaliation? What happens if Israel decides to drop some bombs on Syria or Iran? What happens if Iran decides to retaliate? What happens in Russia decides to supply Iran and Syria on those retaliations? The Middle East is a powder keg waiting to explode, and a small action such as inserting ourselves into someone else's civil war may be the spark that blows up the region.
But for those who are defending the President's actions of threatening to use these missiles even if Congress doesn't give him the Authorization to Use Military Force, I leave you with President Obama's words on the AUMF:
Now, all these issues remind us that the choices we make about war can impact — in sometimes unintended ways — the openness and freedom on which our way of life depends. And that is why I intend to engage Congress about the existing Authorization to Use Military Force, or AUMF, to determine how we can continue to fight terrorism without keeping America on a perpetual wartime footing.
The AUMF is now nearly 12 years old. The Afghan war is coming to an end. Core al Qaeda is a shell of its former self. Groups like AQAP must be dealt with, but in the years to come, not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al Qaeda will pose a credible threat to the United States. Unless we discipline our thinking, our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight, or continue to grant Presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states.
So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF's mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. That's what our democracy demands.