The deployment numbers have solidified. Approximately 3,500 Marines aboard two Marine Expeditionary Units -- including the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli -- are in the Persian Gulf or en route. At least 1,000 soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division have been ordered to the Middle East, with Stars and Stripes reporting the Pentagon is considering sending up to 3,000 paratroopers total. Combined with the roughly 8,000 troops already in the region, the American military footprint in and around the Gulf now approaches 12,000. [1] [2]

None of them have congressional authorization. There is no Authorization for Use of Military Force. There has been no floor vote. The War Powers Resolution requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities. The administration has complied with the notification requirement. But notification is not authorization, and the 60-day clock that limits unauthorized deployments started on March 1, the day the first strikes hit Iranian targets. Day 60 is April 30. The president must either withdraw the forces or obtain congressional authorization by that date. [3]

Newsweek published Wednesday under a headline that stopped just short of operational forecasting: "Why Marines and the 82nd Airborne Division Are Being Sent to Iran." The article stated plainly that the deployment is "a key sign a ground assault may be imminent." The 82nd Airborne is the Army's rapid deployment force. Its primary mission is to parachute into contested areas and seize objectives within hours of receiving orders. The last time the division deployed at this scale was the opening weeks of the Afghanistan war in 2001. That war lasted twenty years. [4]

The Marines carry a different signal. Marine Expeditionary Units are self-contained amphibious forces designed for forced-entry operations -- landing on defended coastline. The USS Tripoli is an America-class amphibious assault ship that functions as a small aircraft carrier and a troop transport simultaneously. Sending it to the Persian Gulf is not a deterrent posture. Deterrent postures do not require amphibious landing capability.

The Washington Institute's analysis, published Friday, described the deployment as intended to "create additional options for the Commander in Chief." The euphemism is standard. "Additional options" means the president can order a ground operation without waiting for additional forces to arrive. The forces are pre-positioned. The option is loaded.

Congress, which has the constitutional authority to declare war and the statutory obligation to authorize sustained military operations, has not voted. The House passed a third DHS funding bill this week. The Senate blocked it. Neither chamber scheduled debate on an AUMF. Six Republican members have publicly called for a floor vote. The leadership of both parties has declined to schedule one. The pattern is familiar from every unauthorized military action since the Korean War: the executive deploys, Congress watches, and the constitutional question is answered by the calendar rather than by a vote.

The 60-day clock ticks. The troops deploy. The question is not whether the authorization will come. The question is whether anyone in Washington will ask for it before the operation it authorizes has already begun.

-- SAMUEL CRANE, Washington