Download or read book Armed Conflict in Syria written by Congressional Research Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-07-20 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Syrian civil war, now in its seventh year, continues to present new challenges for U.S. policymakers. Following a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria on April 4, 2017, and subsequent U.S. strikes against Syrian military infrastructure and pro-regime forces, Members of Congress have called on the President to consult with Congress about Syria strategy. Other Members have questioned the President's authority to launch strikes against Syria in the absence of specific prior authorization from Congress. In the past, some in Congress have expressed concern about the international and domestic authorizations for such strikes, their potential unintended consequences, and the possibility of undesirable or unavoidable escalation. Since taking office in January 2017, President Trump has stated his intention to "destroy" the Syria- and Iraq-based insurgent terrorist group known as the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, ISIS, or the Arabic acronym Da'esh), and the President has ordered actions to "accelerate" U.S. military efforts against the group in both countries. In late March, senior U.S. officials signaled that the United States would prioritize the fight against the Islamic State and said that Syrian President Bashar al Asad's future would be determined by the Syrian people. Nevertheless, following the April 4 attack, President Trump and senior members of his Administration have spoken more critically of Asad's leadership, and it remains to be seen whether the United States will more directly seek to compel Asad's departure from power while pursuing the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State. Since late 2015, Asad and his government have leveraged military, financial, and diplomatic support from Russia and Iran to improve and consolidate their position relative to the range of antigovernment insurgents arrayed against them. These insurgents include members of the Islamic State, Islamist and secular fighters, and Al Qaeda-linked networks. While Islamic State forces have lost territory to the Syrian government, to Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups, and to U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters since early 2016, they remain capable and dangerous. The IS "capital" at Raqqah has been isolated, but large areas of central and eastern Syria remain under the group's control. The presence and activities of Russian military forces and Iranian personnel in Syria create complications for U.S. officials and military planners, and raise the prospect of inadvertent confrontation with possible regional or global implications. Since March 2011, the conflict has driven more than 5 million Syrians into neighboring countries as refugees (out of a total prewar population of more than 22 million). More than 6.3 million other Syrians are internally displaced and are among more than 13.5 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance. The United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the Syria crisis (which includes assistance to neighboring countries hosting refugees), and since FY2012 has allocated more than $6.5 billion to meet humanitarian needs. In addition, the United States has allocated more than $500 million to date for bilateral assistance programs in Syria, including the provision of nonlethal equipment to select opposition groups. President Trump has requested $191.5 million in FY2018 funding for such assistance and $500 million in FY2018 defense funds to train and equip anti-IS forces in Syria. U.S. officials and Members of Congress continue to debate how best to pursue U.S. regional security and counterterrorism goals in Syria without inadvertently strengthening U.S. adversaries or alienating U.S. partners. The Trump Administration and Members of the 115th Congress-like their predecessors-face challenges inherent to the simultaneous pursuit of U.S. nonproliferation, counterterrorism, civilian protection, and stabilization goals in a complex, evolving conflict.
Download or read book A New Authorization for Use of Military Force Against the Islamic State written by Matthew C. Weed and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the United States embarked on a strategy to counter the Islamic State (also known as ISIL or ISIS) in 2014, some Members of Congress have raised concerns about the President's underlying authority to engage in anti-IS military operations. In the 114th Congress, both houses of Congress took steps to revisit the possibility of considering legislation to provide authority for the use of military force (AUMF) against the Islamic State. Interest has continued into the first session of the 115th Congress and with the start of the Trump Administration. In 2014, the armed offensive of the Islamic State in northern and western Iraq and northeastern Syria raised significant concerns for the United States. After first ordering multiple deployments of U.S. troops to Iraq to provide security to diplomatic personnel and facilities, advise Iraqi security forces, and conduct intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, President Obama began ordering U.S. military airstrikes on IS forces in Iraq in August 2014. Later in September, after laying out plans for expanded use of military force against the Islamic State in a televised speech to the American people, the President ordered U.S. military airstrikes in Syria against both IS forces and forces of the 'KhorasanGroup' identified by the President as part of Al Qaeda. In 2015, the President ordered new deployments to Iraq, and the Administration announced deployment of a small number of special operations forces to Syria to conduct military operations that involve advising regional partner armed forces but also can include 'unilateral' U.S. operations. In 2016, both U.S. military operations and deployments of U.S. Armed Forces increased to continue the campaign against the Islamic State. As military action against the Islamic State has evolved and increased, many observers, including a number of Members of Congress, have raised numerous questions and concerns about the President's authority to use military force against the Islamic State. Some efforts began near the end of the 113th Congress to consider enactment of a new authorization for use of military force targeting the Islamic State, and have continued into the 114th Congress; the issue, however, remains contentious. The President provided Congress a new authorization proposal in February 2015, and in his 2016 State of the Union address again called on Congress to enact a new authorization for use of military force (AUMF) targeting the Islamic State. The Obama Administration's official position on presidential authority to use force against the Islamic State, however, has remained consistent, relying on the previous 2001 AUMF against those who perpetrated the September 11, 2001, terror attacks (and, to a lesser extent, the 2002 AUMF against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq). This report focuses on the several proposals for a new AUMF specifically targeting the Islamic State made during the 113th and 114th Congresses as well as those made thus far in the 115th Congress. It includes a brief review of existing authorities and AUMFs, as well as a discussion of issues related to various provisions included in existing and proposed AUMFs that both authorize and limit presidential use of military force. Appendices provide a comparative analysis of similar provisions in the numerous AUMFs proposed in the 113th and 114th Congresses.
Download or read book Power Wars written by Charlie Savage and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 1067 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage's penetrating investigation of the Obama presidency and the national security state. Barack Obama campaigned on changing George W. Bush's "global war on terror" but ended up entrenching extraordinary executive powers, from warrantless surveillance and indefinite detention to military commissions and targeted killings. Then Obama found himself bequeathing those authorities to Donald Trump. How did the United States get here? In Power Wars, Charlie Savage reveals high-level national security legal and policy deliberations in a way no one has done before. He tells inside stories of how Obama came to order the drone killing of an American citizen, preside over an unprecendented crackdown on leaks, and keep a then-secret program that logged every American's phone calls. Encompassing the first comprehensive history of NSA surveillance over the past forty years as well as new information about the Osama bin Laden raid, Power Wars equips readers to understand the legacy of Bush's and Obama's post-9/11 presidencies in the Trump era.
Download or read book The Islamic State and ISIS Crisis written by Liam Freeman and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Islamic State is a transnational Sunni Islamist insurgent and terrorist group that has expanded its control over areas of north-western Iraq and north-eastern Syria since 2013, threatening the security of both countries and drawing increased attention from the international community. There is debate over the degree to which the Islamic State organisation might represent a direct terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland or to U.S. facilities and personnel in the region. This book addresses select legal questions raised by the use of military force against IS. Questions addressed in this book include potential sources (and limitations) of presidential authority to use military force against the Islamic State without congressional authorisation; the potential relevance of the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force; the applicability of the United Nations Charter to ongoing U.S. military strikes in Iraq and any prospective strikes against IS forces in Syria; and the constraints imposed by the War Powers Resolution upon U.S. military action that has not been authorised by Congress.
Download or read book Counter Terrorism and the Use of Force in International Law written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this paper, Michael Schmitt explores the legality of the attacks against Al Qaeda and the Taliban under the "jus ad bellum," that component of international law that governs when a State may resort to force as an instrument of national policy. Although States have conducted military counterterrorist operations in the past, the scale and scope of Operation Enduring Freedom may signal a sea change in strategies to defend against terrorism. This paper explores the normative limit on counterterrorist operations. Specifically, under what circumstances can a victim State react forcibly to an act of terrorism? Against whom? When? With what degree of severity? And for how long? The author contends that the attacks against Al Qaeda were legitimate exercises of the rights of individual and collective defense. They were necessary and proportional, and once the Taliban refused to comply with U.S. and United Nations demands to turn over the terrorists located in Afghanistan, it was legally appropriate for coalition forces to enter the country for the purpose of ending the ongoing Al Qaeda terrorist campaign. However, the attacks on the Taliban were less well grounded in traditional understandings of international law. Although the Taliban were clearly in violation of their legal obligation not to allow their territory to be used as a terrorist sanctuary, the author suggests that the degree and nature of the relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda may not have been such that the September 11 attacks could be attributed to the Taliban, thereby disallowing strikes against them in self-defense under traditional understandings of international law. Were the attacks, therefore, illegal? Not necessarily. Over the past half-century the international community's understanding of the international law governing the use of force by States has been continuously evolving. The author presents criteria likely to drive future assessments of the legality of counterterrorist operatio7.
Download or read book Terrorism Commentary on Security Documents Volume 142 written by Douglas C. Lovelace and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 142, Security Strategies of the Second Obama Administration: 2015 Developments, examines the major national security and military strategy documents released by the Obama administration during 2015: the National Security Strategy; the National Military Strategy; the National Intelligence Strategy; and the Department of Defense Cyber Strategy. This volume is intended as a sequel to Volume 137 of this series, which considered the de facto national security strategy of the Obama administration prior to the release of these documents. It is divided into four topical sections, each of which is introduced by a commentary written by series editor Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr. In addition to the documents listed above, this volume also contains recent reports analyzing those documents, as well as a legal update on the current status of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and a consideration of the War Powers Resolution.
Download or read book The Islamic State Crisis and U S Policy written by Kenneth Katzman and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The War Powers Resolution written by Congressional Research Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report discusses and assesses the War Powers Resolution and its application since enactment in 1973, providing detailed background on various cases in which it was used, as well as cases in which issues of its applicability were raised. It will be revised biannually. In the post-Cold War world, Presidents have continued to commit U.S. Armed Forces into potential hostilities, sometimes without a specific authorization from Congress. Thus the War Powers Resolution and its purposes continue to be a potential subject of controversy. On June 7, 1995, the House defeated, by a vote of 217-201, an amendment to repeal the central features of the War Powers Resolution that have been deemed unconstitutional by every President since the law's enactment in 1973. In 1999, after the President committed U.S. military forces to action in Yugoslavia without congressional authorization, Representative Tom Campbell used expedited procedures under the Resolution to force a debate and votes on U.S. military action in Yugoslavia, and later sought, unsuccessfully, through a federal court suit to enforce presidential compliance with the terms of the War Powers Resolution. The War Powers Resolution P.L. 93-148 was passed over the veto of President Nixon on November 7, 1973, to provide procedures for Congress and the President to participate in decisions to send U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities. Section 4(a)(1) requires the President to report to Congress any introduction of U.S. forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities. When such a report is submitted, or is required to be submitted, Section 5(b) requires that the use of forces must be terminated within 60 to 90 days unless Congress authorizes such use or extends the time period. Section 3 requires that the "President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing" U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities. From 1975 through March 2017, Presidents have submitted 168 reports as the result of the War Powers Resolution, but only one, the 1975 Mayaguez seizure, cited Section 4(a)(1), which triggers the 60-day withdrawal requirement, and in this case the military action was completed and U.S. armed forces had disengaged from the area of conflict when the report was made. The reports submitted by the President since enactment of the War Powers Resolution cover a range of military activities, from embassy evacuations to full-scale combat military operations, such as the Persian Gulf conflict, and the 2003 war with Iraq, the intervention in Kosovo, and the anti-terrorism actions in Afghanistan. In some instances, U.S. Armed Forces have been used in hostile situations without formal reports to Congress under the War Powers Resolution. On one occasion, Congress exercised its authority to determine that the requirements of Section 4(a)(1) became operative on August 29, 1983, through passage of the Multinational Force in Lebanon Resolution (P.L. 98-119). In 1991 and 2002, Congress authorized, by law, the use of military force against Iraq. In several instances none of the President, Congress, or the courts has been willing to initiate the procedures of or enforce the directives in the War Powers Resolution.
Download or read book National Security Law written by Stephen Dycus and published by Aspen Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 1128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely casebook provides a complete exploration of both constitutional and domestic law issues of national security, blended with cases, notes, questions, and original materials. The best-selling casebook in the field, National Security Law, Third Edition, Is both current and comprehensive. Some of the effective features that earned the book its leading position include: a cohesive thematic framework that examines policy And The consequences surrounding American use of force, intelligence operations, and counterterrorism efforts rich primary materials, such as judicial opinions, executive correspondence, statutes, and legislative history penetrating hypothetical questions that prompt analysis of the actual issues faced by national security professionals plentiful descriptive text to supply context and informative historical and background materials Material in the Third Edition is especially important in light of current national security issues: Part III, devoted to terrorism and transnational law enforcement, includes the original Osama bin Laden case, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee v. Reno, and materials on consequence management extensive coverage throughout the book of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 with legal analysis of U.S. And international responses U.S. military involvement in Columbia U.S. And NATO activity in Kosovo
Download or read book Foundations of the Islamic State written by Patrick B. Johnston and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2016-05-18 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing from 140 recently declassified documents, this report comprehensively examines the organization, territorial designs, management, personnel policies, and finances of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) and al-Qa‘ida in Iraq. Analysis of the Islamic State predecessor groups is more than a historical recounting. It provides significant understanding of how ISI evolved into the present-day Islamic State and how to combat the group.
Download or read book On Point written by Gregory Fontenot and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Den amerikanske hærs første officielle historiske beretning om operationerne i den anden Irakiske Krig, "Operation Iraqi Freedom", (OIF). Fra forberedelserne, mobiliseringen, forlægningen af enhederne til indsættelsen af disse i kampene ved Talil og As Samawah, An Najaf og de afsluttende kampe ved Bagdad. Foruden en detaljeret gennemgang af de enkelte kampenheder(Order of Battle), beskrives og analyseres udviklingen i anvendte våben og doktriner fra den første til den anden Golf Krig.
Download or read book The Evolution of the Islamic State written by Douglas C. Lovelace and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 143, The Evolution of the Islamic State, focuses on the U.S. response to the Islamic State (IS) both in Syria and Iraq from a foreign policy standpoint and a military strategy perspective, as well as considering the impact of the rise of IS on the broader global jihadist movement. Consideration is also given to the importance of information warfare in countering IS's worldwide recruiting efforts via the Internet. This volume also includes documents examining related issues of great importance, including a report considering IS's financing, a report on the legal issues arising in connection with U.S. military action against IS, the role of Shia warlords and militias in Iraq in opposing IS, and the lessons that can be learned from the support provided to IS by European fighters.
Download or read book Islamic Exceptionalism written by Shadi Hamid and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Islamic Exceptionalism, Brookings Institution scholar and acclaimed author Shadi Hamid offers a novel and provocative argument on how Islam is, in fact, "exceptional" in how it relates to politics, with profound implications for how we understand the future of the Middle East. Divides among citizens aren't just about power but are products of fundamental disagreements over the very nature and purpose of the modern nation state—and the vexing problem of religion’s role in public life. Hamid argues for a new understanding of how Islam and Islamism shape politics by examining different models of reckoning with the problem of religion and state, including the terrifying—and alarmingly successful—example of ISIS. With unprecedented access to Islamist activists and leaders across the region, Hamid offers a panoramic and ambitious interpretation of the region's descent into violence. Islamic Exceptionalism is a vital contribution to our understanding of Islam's past and present, and its outsized role in modern politics. We don't have to like it, but we have to understand it—because Islam, as a religion and as an idea, will continue to be a force that shapes not just the region, but the West as well in the decades to come.
Download or read book Targeted Killings written by Claire Oakes Finkelstein and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-03 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The controversy surrounding targeted killings represents a crisis of conscience for policymakers, lawyers and philosophers grappling with the moral and legal limits of the war on terror. This text examines the legal and philosophical issues raised by government efforts to target suspected terrorists.
Download or read book Presidential Doctrines written by Joseph M. Siracusa, Deputy Dean of Global Studies, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-07-18 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presidential doctrines since Washington are evaluated to show that, despite differences between administrations, these doctrines have articulated both the responses and directions conducive to an international order that best advances U.S. interests, including “democracy,” open free markets, self-determining states, and a secure global environment.
Download or read book Authorization for Use of Military Force Against the Islamic State written by Tomás Mendoza and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2014, the armed offensive of the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, ISIS, or Daesh) in northern and western Iraq and northeastern Syria raised significant concerns for the United States. After first ordering multiple deployments of U.S. troops to Iraq to provide security to diplomatic personnel and facilities, advise Iraqi security forces, and conduct intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, President Obama began ordering U.S. military airstrikes on IS forces in Iraq in August 2014. Later in September, after laying out plans for expanded use of military force against the Islamic State in a televised speech to the American people, the President ordered U.S. military airstrikes in Syria against both IS forces and forces of the "Khorasan Group," identified by the President as part of Al Qaeda. The intensified U.S. military engagement has raised numerous questions in Congress and beyond about the President's authority to use military force against the Islamic State. This book discusses the issues and current proposals for the use of military force against the Islamic State.
Download or read book TERRORISM COMMENTARY ON SECURITY DOCUMENTS VOLUME 142 written by Douglas Lovelace Jr. and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-24 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a series that provides primary source documents and expert commentary on various topics relating to the worldwide effort to combat terrorism, as well as efforts by the United States and other nations to protect their national security interests. Volume 142, Security Strategies of the Second Obama Administration: 2015 Developments, examines the major national security and military strategy documents released by the Obama administration during 2015: the National Security Strategy; the National Military Strategy; the National Intelligence Strategy; and the Department of Defense Cyber Strategy. This volume is intended as a sequel to Volume 137 of this series, which considered the de facto national security strategy of the Obama administration prior to the release of these documents. It is divided into four topical sections, each of which is introduced by a commentary written by series editor Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr. In addition to the documents listed above, this volume also contains recent reports analyzing those documents, as well as a legal update on the current status of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and a consideration of the War Powers Resolution.
