(This byliner by Senator Robert C. Byrd (Democrat-West Virginia) first appeared in The New York Times March 12, 2002 and is in the public domain. No republication restrictions.)

Why Congress Has to Ask Questions
By Robert C. Byrd

Washington -- Do members of Congress have any business questioning a president's military strategy in the midst of war? That was the question swirling around Capitol Hill last week. In the heat of debate, some went so far as to insinuate that any questioning of a wartime president is divisive and unpatriotic.

What dangerous nonsense this is. Congress not only has the right to question a president's policies, but also the duty. In a war, the American people have every right to a full accounting of what their sons and daughters are fighting for and what their government expects to achieve. To question is not to accuse or to condemn. To question is to seek the truth. The less forthcoming a president is, the more Congress will have to probe for answers. Such is the current situation.

In the wake of Sept. 11, President Bush declared all-out war on terrorism. Money is no object; time is no deterrent. We will win this war, the president vowed. We will hunt down and destroy the terrorists.

Those words constitute a sweeping manifesto. I support the president's commitment, but as a senator, I have a responsibility to look beyond the rhetoric. How will we win this war? What are the costs? What are our objectives? What are the standards by which we measure victory? How long will we be in Afghanistan? Where else will we go?

The Constitution states that the president shall be commander in chief, but it is Congress that has the constitutional authority to provide for the common defense and general welfare, to raise and support armies, and to declare war. In other words, Congress has a constitutional responsibility to weigh in on war-related policy decisions.

Yet in this war on terrorism, Congress, by and large, has been left to learn about major war-related decisions through newspaper articles. One day we hear that American military advisers are heading to the Philippines. Another day we read that military personnel may go into the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The next day we are sending advisers into Yemen. And, oh yes, we also learn from news reports that we have a shadow government in our own backyard, composed of unknown bureaucrats, up and running at undisclosed locations, for an indeterminate length of time.

Is it any wonder that members of Congress are beginning to question whether the administration is deliberately leaving Congress in the dark -- or whether the administration is making major policy decisions on the fly, without taking time for due consideration or consultation? Neither scenario is comforting. And while the administration has started to meet with some members of Congress, it appears to be more in reaction to criticism than in genuine cooperation and consultation.

Last Wednesday, the remains of seven American servicemen killed in combat in Afghanistan were brought home to Dover Air Force Base. The ceremony was a somber and chilling reminder of what is involved in prosecuting America's war on terror. It was a reminder that the waging of war is not merely a matter of political debate. It is a matter of guns and bullets and bombs and bloodshed. It is a matter of committing our sons and daughters to a life-and-death struggle.

The loss of American lives in Afghanistan requires that we question the president's wartime policies, no matter how uncomfortable the questioning may be. We owe that to the Americans who have died, and who will die, in the course of what may be a long and murky war.

(Robert C. Byrd is a Democratic U.S. Senator for West Virginia.)