> So why did W. Ask Congress for authorization not once but twice for Afghanistan and Iraq? <
Those authorizations were crap, the coward’s way out. Congress wanted to cover itself. Take credit if all went well. But blame the president otherwise.
The Constitution is clear. War requires a formal declaration from Congress.
Ah, but recent presidents have found a way around that. Just don’t call it a war. Call it a “kinetic action”, or some such thing.
I agree with yyou on that but at least there was an authorization for the War on terror (response to 9/11) AND Iraq
There was a process and a vote and while not a declaration of war as many people might have preferred there was some buy-in from the Reps and senators and that is very close to a declaration of war probably the closet we’ve seen for a long time?