by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he president establishes American foreign policy and is commander in chief. At least that’s what the Constitution states. Then Congress oversees the president’s policies by either granting or withholding money to carry them out \u2014 in addition to approving treaties and authorizing war.<\/p>\n Apparently, the founding fathers were worried about dozens of renegade congressional leaders and committees speaking on behalf of the United States and opportunistically freelancing with foreign leaders.<\/p>\n In our past, self-appointed moralists \u2014 from Charles Lindbergh and Joe Kennedy to Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson \u2014 have, from time to time, tried to engage in diplomacy directly contrary to the president’s.<\/p>\n But usually Americans agree to let one elected president and his secretary of state speak for the United States abroad. Then if they’re displeased with the results, they can show it at the ballot box every two years in national or midterm elections.<\/p>\n But recently hundreds in Congress have decided that they’re better suited to handle international affairs than the State Department.<\/p>\n The U.S. Senate late last month passed a resolution urging the de facto breakup of wartime Iraq into federal enclaves along sectarian lines \u2014 even though this is not the official policy of the Bush administration, much less the wish of a sovereign elected government in Baghdad.<\/p>\n That Senate vote only makes it tougher for 160,000 American soldiers to stabilize a unitary Iraq. And\u00a0Iraqis I spoke with during my recent trip to Iraq are confused over why the U.S. Congress would preach to them how to split apart their own country.<\/p>\n Then, last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution condemning Turkey for genocide against the Armenian people, atrocities committed nearly a century ago during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n If the entire House approves the resolution, the enraged Ankara government could do everything from invade\u00a0Iraqi Kurdistan \u2014 in hot pursuit of suspected Kurdish guerrillas \u2014\u00a0to curtail U.S. over-flight privileges and restrict use of American military bases\u00a0in Turkey.<\/p>\n This new falling-out could interfere with supplying our soldiers in Iraq. And it complicates a myriad of issues, from the NATO alliance to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.<\/p>\n The speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, earlier this year took another hot-button foreign-policy matter into her own hands when she made a special trip to reach out to Syria’s strongman, Bashar Assad.<\/p>\n That visit to Damascus was played up in the government-run Syrian press as proof that ordinary Americans don’t feel that Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism. Never mind that the Assad dictatorship helps terrorists get into Iraq to kill American soldiers, is suspected of involvement with the assassinations of journalists and democratic leaders in Lebanon, and recently had bombed by the Israelis a facility reported to contain a partially built nuclear reactor.<\/p>\n W<\/span>hat are we to make of a Congress that now wants to establish rather than just oversee U.S. foreign policy? Can it act as a foil to the president and so give our diplomats leverage abroad with wayward nations: “We suggest you do x, before our volatile Congress demands we do y?”<\/p>\n Maybe \u2014 but any good is vastly outweighed by the bad. Partisan politics often drive these anti-administration foreign policies, aimed at making the president look weak abroad and embarrassed at home.<\/p>\n House representatives too often preach their own district politics, less so the American people’s interest as a whole. What might ensure their re-election or win local campaign funds isn’t necessarily good for the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n And too often we see frustrated senators posture in debate during televised hearings, trying out for the role of chief executive or commander in chief. Most could never get elected president \u2014 many have tried \u2014 but they seem to enjoy the notion that their own under-appreciated brilliance and insight should supersede the collective efforts of the State Department.<\/p>\n So they travel abroad, pass resolutions and pontificate a lot, but rarely have to clean up the ensuing mess of their own freelancing of American foreign policy.<\/p>\n Congress should stick to its constitutional mandate and quit the publicity gestures. If it is unhappy with the ongoing effort to stabilize a unified Iraq, then it should act seriously and vote to cut off all funds and bring the troops home.<\/p>\n If the House wants to punish Turkey for denying that its Ottoman forefathers engaged in a horrific genocide, then let congressional members likewise deny funds for our military to stay among such a genocide-denying amoral host.<\/p>\n If Speaker Pelosi believes that Syria is not a terrorist entity but a country worth re-engaging diplomatically, then let her in mature fashion introduce legislation that would resume full American financial relations with our new partner Damascus.<\/p>\n Otherwise, it’s all talk \u2014 and dangerous talk at that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a92007 Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The president establishes American foreign policy and is commander in chief. At least that’s what the Constitution states. Then Congress oversees the president’s policies by either granting or withholding money to carry them out \u2014 in addition to approving treaties and authorizing war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[753],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-UF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":665,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/legal-illegal-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3513,"position":0},"title":"Legal Illegal Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services President Obama recently issued an edict exempting an estimated 800,000 to 1 million illegal aliens from the consequences of federal immigration law. Ostensibly that blanket amnesty applies to those who arrived before the age of 16 and are younger than 30; who are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12140,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-new-post-trump-constitution\/","url_meta":{"origin":3513,"position":1},"title":"The New Post-Trump Constitution","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review The Left sees Donald Trump\u2019s comportment, rallies, and tweets as a new low in presidential behavior that justifies extraordinary countermeasures. But Trump\u2019s personal characteristics are idiosyncratic and may or may not become institutionalized by subsequent presidents. And it is not as if liberal icons\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9665,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/assessing-the-obama-legacy-against-his-own-mileposts\/","url_meta":{"origin":3513,"position":2},"title":"Assessing the Obama Legacy\u2014Against His Own Mileposts","author":"Megan Ring","date":"December 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review The president\u2019s stated priorities have not turned out well. In his 2016 State of the Union address, President Obama summarized his achievements. That same night, the White House issued a press release touting Obama\u2019s accomplishments. Now that he will be leaving, how well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Relations"","block_context":{"text":"International Relations","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/geopolitics\/international-relations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7523,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-bergdahl-release-is-just-the-beginning\/","url_meta":{"origin":3513,"position":3},"title":"The Bergdahl Release Is Just the Beginning","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ The Corner (National Review Online) There has been a lot to think about during these years of Obama\u2019s foreign policy. But the problem is not just the existential issues, from reset to Benghazi, but also the less heralded developments, such as young non-high-school graduate Edward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/download-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9186,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ten-commandments-for-our-next-president\/","url_meta":{"origin":3513,"position":4},"title":"Ten Commandments for Our Next President","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A good rule of thumb is to look at what Obama has done, and then do the opposite. By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online 1. Do not deflect blame onto others. Take personal responsibility when foreign policies implode \u2014 and at least a few will. Read Churchill\u2019s speech\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Campaign 2016"","block_context":{"text":"Campaign 2016","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/campaign-2016\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6411,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-indicts-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":3513,"position":5},"title":"Obama Indicts Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media One of the problems that Barack Obama has in mounting an attack against the Assad regime is that the gambit violates every argument Barack Obama used against the Bush administration to establish his own anti-war candidacy. 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