Ron Paul, once again, drives my tagline home.
Under the actual Constitution of the United States, the Commander In Chief is entitled to deploy troops anywhere outside the United States he desires for any reason.
He has complete executive authority over US armed forces in both wartime and peacetime.
When I get into it with one of these “experts” who say we dont have the right to go to war in another country...all I do is ask them this-”Then we must have screwed up when we went to war with the Barbery (sic) pirates then?”
The only problem I have with this conflict is..It isnt a declared war. If we would have declared war a lot of these issues like the patriot act and the detaining of prisoners at gitmo would not have come up.
Where exactly is this authority granted under the Constitution?
Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states:
The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States....
Article I, Section 8 of the constitution states that Congress shall have the power to:
..declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
and To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces
However, the War Powers Act of 1973, (the purpose of which is stated to be: "...to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgement of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicate by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations."), clearly states in Section III that:
"The President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities or into situation where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, and after every such introduction shall consult regularly with the Congress until United States Armed Forces are no longer engaged in hostilities or have been removed from such situations."
No where is the authority granted specifically to the President to, (as you say), "deploy troops anywhere outside the United States he desires for any reason." Nor does he "have complete authority over US armed forces in both wartime and peacetime."