12/23/2023 What is congress' responsibility when a president sends troops into armed conflict?Read NowLawmakers too often deferred to presidential decisions that they knew to be flawed. The Vietnam-era Congress certainly had many failings. Conservatives place responsibility for "losing" on the Democratic Congress. Liberals accuse the Congress of allowing Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon to push deeper into the jungles of Southeast Asia without opposition. Ironically, both the left and the right have criticized the performance of Congress during the war in Vietnam. One of the best examples for current Democratic legislators is that of their Vietnam-era counterparts. Congress has often played a significant, albeit underappreciated, role in wartime politics. In the debate over whether the legislature can play a constructive role in shaping national security policy, the president's challengers have history on their side. "You don't like to micromanage the Defense Department," responded Congressman John Murtha, "but we have to, in this case, because they're not paying attention to the public." "You can't run a war by committee," Vice President Richard Cheney told FOX News on January 14.īut Democrats are no longer willing to trust presidential decision-making. Since January 10, when President Bush proposed a "troop surge" in Iraq, the administration has responded to legislative critics by stating that Congress cannot handle the responsibility of conducting an effective war.
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