In an interesting op-ed in last Thursday's Washington Post, John Hamre argues that we need to rethink the legal strategy behind the GWOT with Congress taking the lead:

This is an opportunity for constructive bipartisanship. The election is over. Instead of defaulting to the blue-ribbon-commission model, we should ask Congress to work on this problem. Let's ask the leadership to create a special select committee, made up of the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Intelligence and Judiciary committees, to work together for six months. They should assemble a panel of advisers consisting of politicians and jurists of excellent reputation -- people such as Sandra Day O'Connor, Sam Nunn, John Danforth and John Glenn.

  This is a very interesting idea, albeit one that obviously would be opposed strongly by the Bush Administration. I'm half-way through John Yoo's new book, War By Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror; if Yoo's views are any sign of the views held by bigwigs in the Bush Administration, the chances Hamre's proposal would get their support are essentially zero. As Yoo describes it, the other branches need to step out of the way when it comes to fighting wars: only the Executive Branch is competent in this arena, and any restrictions on its authority imposed by Congress or the courts are unwise if not unconstitutional.

  More on Yoo's book when I finish it, which should be in a few days.