Originally Posted by
Buster Hyman
Umm...I'm not fully versed on American Politics but is there such a blurred line that the Sec Def can say "perhaps"???
There are two issues here:
On the one hand, only Congress can declare war and put the nation on a war footing. But as commander in Chief, the president has the power to commit military forces essentially anywhere, anytime, for any reason. A protracted military engagement requires funding, and since only Congress has the ability to levy taxes and thus controls all the purse strings, that requires Congress to agree with the president in any protracted engagement. This has happened numerous times in our history.
And on the other hand, even if Congress declared war, it's up to the President to prosecute that war. If he decided not to engage the military even in the face of a Congressional declaration of war, he/she could. This has never happened.
But the bottom line: yes, perhaps.