{"id":591800,"date":"2023-09-19T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/congressional-authorizations-for-military-force-are-ticking-time-bombs\/"},"modified":"2023-09-19T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T13:30:00","slug":"congressional-authorizations-for-military-force-are-ticking-time-bombs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/congressional-authorizations-for-military-force-are-ticking-time-bombs\/","title":{"rendered":"#Congressional authorizations for military force are ticking time bombs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/bush_george_W_iraq_war_10162002_AP_AP23084684392155.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The nation recently observed the 22nd anniversary of the horrendous 9\/11 attacks by Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. Bin Laden died\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/blog\/2011\/05\/02\/osama-bin-laden-dead\">12 years ago<\/a>\u00a0and, while there are still elements of his network in various locales around the world,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dni.gov\/index.php\/nctc-newsroom\/3725-9-11-statement-from-national-counterterrorism-center-christy-abizaid\">al Qaeda no longer poses a direct threat<\/a>\u00a0to the American homeland.<\/p>\n<p>After the 9\/11 attacks, it made sense for Congress to authorize the president to respond \u2014 to seek out and neutralize the terrorists and their enablers.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.everycrsreport.com\/reports\/RL31133.html\">Congress has historically granted<\/a>\u00a0the executive branch the ability to conduct war through what is called authorization for use of military force (AUMF) in specified circumstances. They should obviously be narrowly targeted at the culprits and those in league with them, rather than granting virtually unlimited power to conduct warfare.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Unfortunately, the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/107\/plaws\/publ40\/PLAW-107publ40.pdf\">2001 AUMF<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roved by Congress on Sept. 18, 2001, which initiated the country\u2019s global war on terrorism, was not limited in time, geographic scope or circumstances. It is still very much alive today, even though the threat it was intended to address has largely dissipated.<\/p>\n<p>There is good reason to believe that the carte blanche war-making power granted in the 2001 authorization was designed to include military action against Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were both part of an\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2003\/feb\/23\/usa.iraq1\">organization advocating the removal of Hussein<\/a>\u00a0well before George W. Bush was elected president.<\/p>\n<p>Congress approved a 2002 authorization specifically directed against Saddam Hussein\u2019s regime in Iraq, but there is strong evidence to suggest that the Bush administration had already\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.globalpolicy.org\/component\/content\/article\/168-general\/37699.html\">decided in the fall of 2001 to invade Iraq<\/a>. The 2002 war authorization was just handy window dressing. That no evidence turned up to justify the Iraq War was not the result of an intelligence failure. Rather, it likely resulted from a fabrication of intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>Many American and Iraqi lives were lost because of the overly broad 2001 authorization and the totally unwarranted 2002 authorization. Nearly 4,600 U.S. service personnel and 3,650 American contractors\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cvafoundation.org\/was-the-iraq-war-a-mistake-consequences-of-the-iraq-war\/\">died in the Iraq War<\/a>\u00a0and its aftermath. There have been between 280,771 and 315,190\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/watson.brown.edu\/costsofwar\/costs\/human\/civilians\/iraqi\">Iraqi civilians killed<\/a>\u00a0by direct violence since the U.S. invasion.\u00a0All of those deaths can be laid at the feet of Vice President Dick Cheney, Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the other opportunists who took advantage of the 9\/11 tragedy, twisting the nation\u2019s grief and anger to further their personal political agenda of conquering Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the cost in human lives, the AUMFs imposed crushing economic burdens on American taxpayers. The\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/02\/06\/the-iraq-war-has-cost-the-us-nearly-2-trillion\/\">cost for just the Iraq War was about $2 trillion<\/a>. The total cost, past and future, for the global war on terror,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/watson.brown.edu\/costsofwar\/figures\/2021\/BudgetaryCosts\">has been estimated at $8 trillion<\/a>, including almost $6 trillion for war and war-related outlays through fiscal year 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Added to the cost in blood and treasure is the loss of trust in America\u2019s leaders, both by our own people and by our allies across the world, the extreme wear and tear on our military from having to conduct two bruising wars simultaneously and the fact that we handed a great victory to Iran by disposing of Saddam Hussein, its arch enemy. It is unfortunate that Rumsfeld, Cheney and their enablers were not called\u00a0to account in the criminal justice system for their misuse of the congressional war authorizations.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>There is no reason for the 2002 authorization to remain on the books. It should be outright repealed. The\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fcnl.org\/updates\/2023-07\/congress-continues-long-path-toward-repealing-2002-aumf\">Senate voted overwhelmingly for repeal<\/a>\u00a0in March and the issue is supposed to come before the House of Representatives soon. Americans should weigh in to see that it gets done.<\/p>\n<p>The 2001 AUMF may have provided some initial benefits to the United States in Afghanistan but, overall, it has done more harm than good to the country. Because of its virtually limitless wording, it poses a much greater threat of potential misuse in the future.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov\/2023\/4\/meeks-introduces-landmark-2001-aumf-repeal-and-replace-bill\">Legislation is pending in the House<\/a>\u00a0that would repeal the 2001 AUMF and replace it with a measure narrowly targeting existing terrorist threats.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov\/_cache\/files\/3\/a\/3a1eb5f8-c3bf-4026-b460-5e64c88c04e8\/209F35532D1368A67D8B789277D438AA.h.-j.-res.-52-text.pdf\">House Joint Resolution 2<\/a>\u00a0also contains a sunset clause, so it would not be on the books forever. The public should demand quick and favorable action on this legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Both congressional authorizations should be repealed because they are no longer needed and are ticking time bombs of potential abuse. Should future military action be necessitated, Congress must do its job \u2014 demand adequate justification for an AUMF, tailor it to the exact needs and limit its duration \u2014 rather than once again handing a president carte blanche authority to conduct a limitless war.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p><em>Jim\u00a0Jones\u00a0is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> (1983-1991) and 12 years as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He is a regular contributor to The Hill.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/national-security\/4209817-congressional-authorizations-for-military-force-are-ticking-time-bombs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The nation recently observed the 22nd anniversary of the horrendous 9\/11 attacks by Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. Bin Laden died\u00a012 years ago\u00a0and, while there are still elements of his network in various locales around the world,\u00a0al Qaeda no longer poses a direct threat\u00a0to the American homeland. After the 9\/11 attacks, it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":591801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/bush_george_W_iraq_war_10162002_AP_AP23084684392155.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[145908,145909,134344,76548,134747,145910,134343,104999,110926,79189,145911,73014,133498,124783,93244,71525,4947,102354,141939,145912],"class_list":["post-591800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2001-aumf","tag-2002-aumf","tag-administration","tag-al-qaeda","tag-arts-culture","tag-authorization-for-use-of-military-force","tag-campaign","tag-dick-cheney","tag-donald-rumsfeld","tag-george-w-bush","tag-global-war-on-terror","tag-health-care","tag-in-the-know","tag-international","tag-iraq-war","tag-national-security","tag-opinion","tag-osama-bin-laden","tag-politics-of-the-united-states","tag-repeal-of-the-2002-aumf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}