Dubya wants Congress to give Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld unlimited discretion over $130 million to support any military effort around the world he thinks would be helpful in fighting the war on terror.

The idea of supporting indigenous efforts to fight anti-U.S. terrorists or forces protecting or harboring such groups is not inherently wrong, but I think that such financial support would have to be weighed very carefully in each circumstance by Congress. It is Congress, after all, that is constitutionally charged with declaring war, and each new financial disbursement to a covert military group is an indirect act of war by the United States.

More importantly, important factors such as the likelihood of success, the extent and danger of the threat being fought, and possibility of further exacerbating the situation should be considered in a deliberate fashion. Rummy may be a lot of things, but he’s not very deliberate. More broadly, though, matters of when and where to go to war should not be decided by one man. They should be decided by the people’s representatives. Rummy’s job is to execute the war.