Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) has said President Donald Trump should seek authorization from Congress to carry out future military operations against the Islamic State militant organization, Defense News reported Thursday.
Joe Gould writes Cole, a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel and the House Budget Committee, made the call through a letter addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin).
Cole said at CNN’s New Day show Wednesday that Trump should ask for new authorization of the use of military force since the U.S. is now in “sustained military activity†against the militant organization that did not exist in 2002 when the last AUMF was passed to allow the post-9/11 war in Iraq, according to a report by Elliot Smilowitz for The Hill.
“So if you are fighting against a new enemy in new places, it seems to me you need a new authorization for the use of military force,†he added.
He noted that the U.S.-led airstrike against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces early this month did not require congressional approval because it was a “one-strike thing,†the report added.
Defense Secretary James Mattis called the U.S. missile strike against Syria’s Shayrat airbase a “measured military response†to the Assad regime’s April 4 chemical weapons attack on its citizens.
