Does waging war across a large swath of the Islamic world make sense? Does the world’s most powerful nation have no other choice but to persist in pursuing a manifestly futile endeavor?

It was the US invasion of Iraq, after all, that led directly to the birth of ISIS. The terrorists know this, which is why they’re doing everything they can to drive the West into deeper military engagement.

It is now all but certain that the next president will be the commander-in-chief of a war that was never properly declared and that has always lacked sufficient congressional oversight.

The point of a war resolution is not to “send a signal” to anyone. It’s supposed to give the people’s representatives a chance to say no. Without that, it’s little more than an imperial farce.

The United States is waging the present conflict in part because it lost the last Iraq War. The American people will not back another unending war.

War is the health of the state. As long as individuals and institutions persist in their commitment to permanent war, little of substance will change.

How could it be more obvious, after more than two decades of empty declarations of victory in Iraq, that genuine "success," however defined, is impossible? The only way to win is not to play.

The Framers of the Constitution never intended for the president to have the power to wage war anywhere, anytime, and against any one - let alone against an American citizen.