New war, you ask? Hasn't the United States already decided to use the military option to counter al-Qaida, and isn't the threat posed by Isis just a new version of the battle that Congress already authorized Bush and Obama to fight? The answer – contrary to what many have suggested – is very clearly no.

Sending drones to fight Isis isn't simply some new front on a disappearing border. Congress has only authorized, in the wake of 9/11 and before Reaper drones were even introduced, the use of force against al-Qaida – and potentially groups working in direct association with it. But Isis is very clearly not one of them.

.........

But if you ask legal scholars and independent terrorism experts, you find a completely different reality – one that should give Obama pause before acting on any air strikes, even if the time to send in the drones is running short. Because there is minimizing civilian casualties before Isis reaches Baghdad, and then there is rushing into war with a public so badly misinformed by parts of the media and its own government.

On various legal blogs, academics such as Deborah Pearlstein and Jennifer Daskal have been at pains to show how Isis is not associated with al-Qaida – far from it. Fissures grew between the two groups last year when Isis "repeatedly refused" instructions and advice from the head of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and outright opposed his goals and directives. This year, Zawahiri officially gave up and announced that al-Qaida would have nothing to do with Isis. Al-Qaida's senior leadership stated that it has "no connection" with Isis, and that Isis is "not an affiliate with the al-Qaida group and has no organizational relation with it."

So what about that black flag? As Professor Pearlstein notes:

[T]errorist experts have regularly pointed out the popularity of the black flag with the white lettering among a range of Islamist groups across the region.

Of course, most Americans don't read legal blogs or research reports. Most Americans believe what they see on cable news. But the American public needs to understand from President Obama the choices ahead – and the enemy we are now apparently prepared to fight. And the president shouldn't just consult Congress on this one. He needs to receive our backing, too.


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/19/obama-iraq-war-approval-air-strikes