Who Has the Power to Make War?

As the Administration's anti-Iraq rhetoric took on a more belligerent tone last week, 15 congressional leaders hurried to the White House to hear President Bush explain his intentions. Afterward Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell repeated a message he has delivered many times: "Under the Constitution the President has no legal authority to commit the U.S. to war. Only Congress can do that."

While the Constitution gives Congress the exclusive right to declare war, events have a way of handing that power to Presidents. Relying on a decision of the U.N., Harry Truman committed troops to Korea without specific authorization from Congress. Lyndon Johnson launched his escalation of the Vietnam War from the shaky platform of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, the nearest thing to congressional approval he could point to -- or needed.

The painful memory of its own impotence during Vietnam led Congress to approve the War Powers Act in 1973. The law requires the President to obtain congressional approval within 90 days at most after he deploys U.S. troops to any area where he believes there is "imminent" danger of hostilities. Passed over Richard Nixon's veto, the War Powers Act has been denounced by every President since then as a usurpation of Executive authority. Even Congress has been reluctant to invoke it at the risk of appearing to stand in the way of American troops on the march.

Before adjourning last week, a wary Congress passed legislation to allow the House and Senate leadership, and not only the President, to call the two chambers back into session "as necessary" -- meaning in the event of fighting in the Middle East. Even so, it is unlikely that Bush would consult with Congress before any bullets start flying in the gulf. That would deprive him of the element of surprise, to say nothing of the freedom to stand alone as Commander in Chief without lawmakers' hogging the stage.