Nearly five months after U.S. troops landed on the beaches of Somalia, Congress is debating whether to authorize their deployment.
Ludicrous?Definitely.
A waste of time?
Maybe.
Since the United States became mired in the Vietnam War and the enactment of the War Powers Resolution in 1973, Congress has insisted on having its say whenever U.S. troops are sent abroad.
That determination has put Congress at odds with two decades of presidents, who have generally agreed with former President Nixon that the War Powers Resolution, limiting the president's authority to send troops into hostile situations abroad, is "unconstitutional and dangerous to the best interests of our nation."
The War Powers Resolution requires that the president notify Congress within 48 hours of sending troops into a foreign country. Troops entering an area of hostilities must be withdrawn after 60 days if Congress does not declare war or authorize them to remain. The president can seek a 30-day extension of that deadline.
What is at issue now is not the constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution but why it has taken Congress so long to authorize the use of U.S. troops in Operation Restore Hope.
The belated action by the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week would to put Congress on record as saying it will not be ignored in matters of overseas deployment. Fine. It also would set a deadline saying U.S. troops should not remain in Somalia as part of U.N. peacekeeping forces for more than 12 months after the resolution is enacted. Again, fine.
But Congress' stamp of approval comes too late.
Fewer than 7,000 Americans remain from the peak U.S. commitment of 25,800 troops in mid-January. More than 4,600 have left Somalia in the past couple of weeks, and 2,300 more - including the last 1,624 Marines - are scheduled to follow soon.
The United Nations took full control of the U.S.-led coalition forces Tuesday. It has a mandate for 28,000 troops, including 4,000 Americans, to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.
Instead of dawdling, Congress should have voted on the matter immediately after then-President George Bush announced the deployment of troops back in December.
By acting promptly, Congress could have provided an added boost to the necessity and validity of the United States' mission in Somalia.
Now - more than 41/2 months after the first Marines landed in Somalia - Congress is debating the issue. Doesn't Congress have anything better to do than debate a moot issue? If anything, this latest foray into the absurd is just another example of lawmakers wasting the taxpayers' money.