And pray tell Doug, what does a successful conclusion mean?

A successful conclusion to a war means the enemy is no longer capable of engaging in war. It means when we're done, we don't have to worry about that enemy any more.

That has never been achieved by negotiation.

While I agree with the second paragraph of the letter, I do have a question. What is the effective difference between a declaration of war and a resolution empowering the President to go to war?

But really, other than stating a general principle, what is the real point of this letter? What would you have us do? How does it apply to what we are dealing with now?

The difference is huge because a vote authorizing the President to go to war is a vote to deny other Representatives and Senators the right to vote on the merits of going to war and the opportunity to debate those merits.

Authorization is deciding that if certain conditions are met the President can declare war but members of Congress who were granted the authority to determine whether the conditions of war are met no longer have the ability to make those decisions. Legislators do not have the right to vote to deprive the others of their constitutional obligation, responsibility and authority. Let's rephrase your question and see if you agree with it: "What is the effective difference between Congress passing laws and a resolution empowering the President to pass laws."

@Question: you must be in the inner circle of Obama because he doesn't seem to know the answer to that question either.

George did a great job of answering your question. The answer is complete annihilation of your enemy. It means send the troops to do the job and get out. It means using the big stick when needed.

Get the picture yet?