Obama let's slip one dog of war

And makes it clear that he wants to keep the others on a leash at this time. His request for a state of war against DAESH has been sent to Congress but unlike other requests by past Presidents, this one has a time limit and troop limitations.

President Barack Obama has officially asked Congress for war authority to fight Islamic State militants, opening a debate on Capitol Hill over the extent of U.S. military involvement in fighting the group Obama says poses a “grave threat” to U.S. national security.

Obama’s request doesn’t rule out ground troops, calling for their use against the Islamic State in “limited circumstances” including the use of special ops forces to take military action against the group’s leadership. His authorization includes no geographic limits and would expire in three years, unless reauthorized.

Lawmakers, who have been calling for Obama to seek congressional authorization since soon after the U.S. military began dropping airstrikes against the group last summer, welcomed the request, but some warned that it does not go far enough.

“Rather than expanding his legal authority to go after ISIL, the President seems determined to ask Congress to further restrict the authority of the U.S. military to confront this threat,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Obama says in a letter to Congress that his draft would authorize the continued use of military forces to “degrade and defeat” the terror group, but that it does not authorize “enduring” or “long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

He said the authorization, instead, would provide flexibility to conduct ground combat operations in more limited circumstances, such as rescue operations involving U.S. or coalition personnel or the use of special operations forces to take military action against ISIL leadership.

He said it would also authorize the use of U.S. forces in situations where ground combat operations are not expected, such as intelligence collection and sharing.

But Democrats may be leery of sending additional ground troops. Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said any new authorization “should place more specific limits on the use of ground troops to ensure we do not authorize another major ground war without the President coming to Congress to make the case for one.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said the Senate would review Obama’s request “thoughtfully” and senators and committees would “listen closely to the advice of military commanders as they consider the best strategy for defeating ISIL.”

So he has pissed off the warmongers for not calling for war without end and he has pissed off the peace crowd by calling for war at all. Since we can't be happy anymore, we should all embrace the opportunity for everyone to be pissed off at the same time.