"In his torture memos, John Yoo, a lawyer for the Bush administration, notoriously asserted the authority of the commander in chief to violate statutory commands -- only to see Presidents Bush and Obama repudiate his extreme assertions. But the present case [President Trump's airstrike on Syria] is even more serious," says NY Times op-ed contributor Bruce Ackerman. The U.S. Congress provides shaky agency for moral righteousness: a bipartisan majority supports reprisal against Syria's President Assad absent evidence or due process.Did we learn anything from the Iraq war?
"If the commander in chief may unilaterally begin new wars against new enemies whenever he wants, the resulting carnage can mount into the millions," adds Ackerman.
