OK ...
no military conflict since WW2 has been accompanied with a formal declaration of war. The current policies of the Executive Branch go back to the Korean Conflict*.
Yet, all Presidents, Democrat and Republican alike, have sought AND received authorization from Congress for the use of significant military force against a sovereign nation. The facts are, all U.S. military conflicts since WWII have been “undeclared.” The *“Korean War” was/is often called the ‘Korean Conflict’ as it was positioned to the public as a police action of the United Nations.
Similarly the Vietnam War was initially referred to as a “conflict” until the growing scale of US involvement and human cost earned it the self-evident and very appropriate “war” moniker. The President (LBJ) received his not-really-a-war declaration from Congress in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The U.S. Congress specifically authorized the President to use “all necessary measures … including the use of armed force …to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.” That [joint] Resolution was approved by the House unanimously (416-0), and by the Senate 88-2. The resolution was repealed during the Nixon years, in May of 1970.
Three years later, overriding a Nixon veto, Congress passed Public Law 93-148, The War Powers Resolution to limit the power of the President of the United States to wage war without the approval of the Congress. The Resolution is sometimes erroneously referred to as the War Powers Act, and continues to fuel a separation of powers dispute between the Legislative and Executive branches of our Federal government. But despite the rancor, all Presidents have sought AND RECEIVED consent from Congress to use military force. After “Gulf War 1” combat operations against Iraqi forces ended on February 28, 1991, the use of force to obtain Iraqi compliance with U.N. resolutions remained a War Powers issue, until the enactment of P.L. 107-243 , on October 16th 2002.
Public Law 107-243 explicitly authorized the President (GWBush) to use force against Iraq, an authority he exercised in March 2003, and continues to exercise for military operations in Iraq. The Resolution authorized “the President to use armed force to defend the national security of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq and to enforce all relevant U.N. resolutions regarding Iraq.”
WRT IRaq and the war on terror - Congress has repeatedly put their support into Public Law, as follows ...
H.Res. 322
Supported the pursuit of peaceful and diplomatic efforts in seeking Iraqi compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding the destruction of Iraq’s capability to deliver and produce weapons of mass destruction. However, if such efforts fail, “multilateral military action or unilateral military action should be taken.”
Passed in the House: November 13, 1997
H.Res. 612
Reaffirmed that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.
Passed in the House: December 17, 1998
H.Con.Res.137
Expressed concern for the urgent need of a criminal tribunal to try members of the Iraqi regime for war crimes.
Passed in the House: January 27, 1998
Senate
S.Con.Res. 78 Called for the indictment of Saddam Hussein for war crimes.
Passed in the Senate: March 13, 1998
P.L. 105-235 (S.J.Res. 54). Iraqi Breach of International Obligations.
Declared that by evicting weapons inspectors, Iraq was in “material breach” of its cease-fire agreement. Urged the President to take “appropriate action in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations.”
Became public law: August 14, 1998
P.L. 105-338 (H.R. 4655). Iraq Liberation Act of 1988 (Section 586).
Declared that it should be the policy of the United States to “support efforts” to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and replace him with a democratic government. Authorized the President to provide the Iraqi democratic opposition with assistance for radio and television broadcasting, defense articles and military training, and humanitarian assistance.
Became public law: October 31, 1998
H.J.Res. 75
Stated that Iraq’s refusal to allow weapons inspectors was a material breach of its international obligations and constituted “a mounting threat to the United States, its friends and allies, and international peace and security.”
Passed in the House: December 20, 2001
Senate
S. 3079 Expressed the sense of Congress that key scientists, engineers, and technicians in Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction programs should be encouraged to leave and provide information to governments and international institutions that are committed to such programs’ dismantling. Stipulates that the alien and any immediate family members shall be eligible for U.S. permanent residence admission.
Passed in the Senate: November 20, 2002
Public Laws
P.L. 107-243 (H.J.Res. 114). To Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces
against Iraq. Authorized the President to use armed force to defend the national security of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq and to enforce all relevant U.N. resolutions regarding Iraq.
Became public law: October 16, 2002
PLUS, and it's a really big PLUS, remnant, renegade elements of the former Islamic Caliphate have declared war against us. They didn't need an act of Congress to do so.
There is so much more to the People of the United States invoking their War Power through their representatives in Congress assembled than the use of military force against a sovereign state.
Censorship, propaganda, internment, revocation of naturalization, trials by military tribunal, restriction of the US mails, extraordinary intervention in the economy including nationalization of industry and rationing - all of these flow from the War Power of the People.
And all of them are missing in Iraq, were missing in Korea, were missing in Vietnam - is there a trend?