Why Shouldn Iraq Be The Litmus Test?
Does anybody remember the Levin amendment? Offered 10 hours before the final vote authorizing the Iraq war, it would have postponed the use of force until the President went to the United Nations and received authorization. If the UN failed to act, the President could come back to Congress, explain why action was needed anyway and, at that point, Congress could authorize war. Former Senator Lincoln Chafee, the one Republican to support it, described it earlier this year in the New York Times: Senator Levin’s amendment called for United Nations approval before force could be authorized. It was unambiguous and compatible with international law. Acutely cognizant of the dangers of the time, and the reality that diplomatic options could at some point be exhausted, Senator Levin wrote an amendment that was nimble: it affirmed that Congress would stand at the ready to reconsider the use of force if, in the judgment of the president, a United Nations resolution was not “promptly adopted” or e
