President Obama never liked the phrase “war on terror,” declared by his predecessor, George W. Bush, barely a week after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush sometimes also likened the ensuing conflict to World War III. Obama has a very different way with words. Although he, too, has spoken of “war” on occasion, he leans more toward the “series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America” that he outlined in a 2013 speech. But whatever the preferred rhetoric, and despite the constant U.S. military deployments in ground, air and sea combat against terrorist groups for the past 15 years, the fact remains that Congress — with sole constitutional power to declare war — has not done so.
Would declaring ‘war’ on ISIS make victory more certain — or would it even matter?
