Do We Really Need An Emperor Bush?

The Los Angeles Times published an editorial today titled “Do we really need a Gen. Pelosi?” attacking the House plan to redeploy U.S. forces out of Iraq.

Much of the editorial is spent arguing why Congress should voluntarily neuter itself. It says that Congress “must not limit the president’s ability to maneuver at this critical juncture,” and that “lawmakers have a duty to let the president try” his escalation strategy. The Times chides “congressional meddling in military strategy,” and states (without evidence) that Pelosi is “interfering with the discretion of the commander in chief” in order to “fulfill domestic political needs.”

The editorial then echoes the false Lieberman/McConnell line suggesting that Congress’ role in influencing the war is limited mostly to cutting funds. Iraq war critics “should have the courage of their convictions and vote to stop funding U.S. involvement,” the Times says.

But as ThinkProgress has detailed, over the last 35 years, Congress has enacted numerous diverse bills that capped the size of military deployments, prohibited funding for existing or prospective deployment, and placed limits and conditions on the timing and nature of deployments. These actions were enacted by majority Republican and Democratic Congresses and imposed on presidents of both parties. Here are three examples:

December 1974. P.L. 93-559 — Foreign Assistance Act of 1974. The Congress established a personnel ceiling of 4000 Americans in Vietnam within six months of enactment and 3000 Americans within one year.

June 1983. P.L. 98-43 — The Lebanon Emergency Assistance Act of 1983. The Congress required the president to return to seek statutory authorization if he sought to expand the size of the U.S. contingent of the Multinational Force in Lebanon.

November 1993. P.L. 103-139. The Congress limited the use of funding in Somalia for operations of U.S. military personnel only until March 31, 1994, permitting expenditure of funds for the mission thereafter only if the president sought and Congress provided specific authorization.

Passing bills like these today won’t turn Speaker Pelosi into a military general. But if Congress listens to the L.A. Times and abandons its constitutional responsibilities, they will be ordaining Emperor Bush.

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