Liberal group bashes ISIS war powers proposal

MoveOn.org, a liberal grassroots organization, is warning that President Obama’s military authorization to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a “recipe for endless — and costly — war.”

“Congress must not abdicate its responsibility to oversee U.S. war-making by giving the president a blank check to pursue multiple years of war, in Iraq, Syria, or any nation, against an open-ended array of possible targets,” Civic Action Campaign Director Jo Comerford said in a statement.

“And it certainly must not allow the president to leave open the real possibility of deploying U.S. ground troops, as the proposed AUMF does.”

The language, called an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF), would allow the president to fight ISIS and its allies for three years, anywhere in the world. While it authorizes troops on the ground, it specifically prohibits “enduring offensive ground combat operations” and would repeal an AUMF from 2002 that authorized the War in Iraq.

But Comerford criticized the new measure for leaving the 2001 AUMF intact that authorized a broad mission to fight terror that stemmed from the 9/11 attacks. The administration used that authorization as part of the justification for its initial action against ISIS.

Neither party is sold on the authorization language, with Democrats fearful the ambiguous language could give the president too much power, and Republicans worried that the language is too restrictive.