Obama to request new war powers from Congress over ISIL fight

President Barack Obama is expected to ask Congress for new war powers as early as Tuesday, sending Capitol Hill his blueprint for an updated authorization for the use of military force to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Haggling will likely then begin on writing a new authorization to battle the armed group, which has seized territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria and imposed a violent form of Sharia law.

That will lead to the first war vote in Congress in 13 years — one of the most important votes faced by members of the House and Senate.

To get Congress to approve his request, Obama will likely try to find a balance between lawmakers who want wide authority to fight ISIL and others, including members of his own party, who worry that a new authorization to use military force will lead to U.S. entanglement in another protracted war.

In 2002, Congress passed a resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq — a vote that scores of Democrats have regretted and which then-candidate Obama used against his rivals to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama so far has relied on congressional authorizations that former President Bush used to justify military action after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. 

Critics say the White House's use of these authorizations to fight ISIL is a legal stretch at best. The president earlier insisted he had the legal authority to deploy more than 2,700 U.S. troops in Iraq to train and assist Iraqi security forces, and conduct ongoing airstrikes against targets in Iraq and Syria. 

Obama administration officials have had consultations with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers about provisions of the new authorization they are seeking. So far, no formal language has been submitted, although the White House has completed a draft, a senior congressional official said.

Another congressional official said the president would ask for a three-year authorization so the next president will have to seek renewed authority to fight ISIL. 

Nancy Pelosi, minority leader of the House of Representatives, told reporters last week there had not yet been decisions about the geographic scope of an authorization or what limits would be placed on combat troops.

The official said Obama wants to leave open the option to send in combat forces if needed, but is not seeking an authorization that would permit a prolonged U.S. troop presence on the ground. 

The White House request also would not restrict the fight to certain geographic locations, but would limit the U.S. to fighting ISIL or any future group that evolves, the official said.

A congressional aide told the Associated Press that Democrats will not rubber-stamp the White House version, but will seek to rewrite it to include bipartisan views. 

Another congressional staffer said the debate in Congress will not necessarily flow along party lines because, for instance, conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats alike have disagreed about two major sticking points: deploying U.S. combat troops and restricting the geographical area served by the new authorization. 

The second staffer said a final authorization would depend on the language decided on regarding these two issues.

Meanwhile, The United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched airstrikes Tuesday against ISIL from an air base in Jordan, marking its return to combat operations against the group after halting strikes late last year.

The UAE is one of the most prominent Arab members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIL. American officials said the country halted airstrikes in December after a Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, was captured when his plane crashed behind enemy lines. Al-Kaseasbeh was later seen in a grisly video being burned to death by ISIL. 

The UAE had not commented on the suspension, and Tuesday's statement was the first confirmation it had restarted combat operations. It has continued to provide logistical support to the campaign by hosting coalition warplanes at its air bases on the southern rim of the Persian Gulf.

Al Jazeera and wire services