Last month, I ran across a quote from our own Senator Dan Sullivan in an online publication that I highly recommend, called Axios. In it, he discussed with a reporter his belief that Congress should look into an AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force) for a ground war on the Korean Peninsula.
Following is a direct quote from “Trump’s dark view of North Korea options” on September 17, 2017:
Alaska’s Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, whose state is likely within Kim Jong-un’s missile range already, told me he believes Congress should invest more heavily in missile defense and work on legislation to approve “a preventive ground war by the U.S. on the Korean Peninsula.”
- “The model there is either the first Gulf War or the Second Gulf War,” Sullivan said in an interview Saturday. He said Trump would need this congressional authority — an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) — to abide by the Constitution but it also makes sense politically and diplomatically.
- Politically, because he believes the White House should want the American people to endorse, via their congressional representatives, such a momentous decision as a Second Korean War. An AUMF would also, Sullivan argues, “provide the administration with additional leverage as they’re trying to resolve this in a way without going to war.”
- Sullivan said he raised this issue with the administration but didn’t want to get into details of the discussions. (An official I spoke to Sunday cautioned that such an AUMF is not on the administration’s radar.)
~~ end quote ~~
It’s been a couple of weeks since this story came out, and I have seen no additional reporting on it. Perhaps Sen. Sullivan has since changed his mind, but I haven’t seen that reported either.
If you would like to get in touch with Sen. Sullivan to share your opinion on this, here is his contact information:
DC phone: (202)-224-3004
Anchorage phone: (907) 271-5915
Fairbanks phone: (907) 456-0261
Juneau phone: (907) 586-7277
DC fax: (202) 224-6501
Anchorage fax: (907) 258-9305
Fairbanks fax: (907) 451-7290
Juneau fax: (907) 586-7201
There are certain kinds of stupid we don’t have to be, and it seems to me that another Korean ground war comes in near the top of that list.
– Mary
Opinions in this article are those of the author and do not represent official positions of TongassDemocrats.com, the Tongass Democrats, or anyone other than the author.
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