End the Lie – by Madison Ruppert
According to a report, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is preparing legislation that would end the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and in doing so would remove much of the authority for the war on terror and all that comes with it.
The AUMF has been used to justify everything from indefinite detention of Americans to assassinations carried out by drones so legislation that would “sunset” the AUMF would bring about many changes.
“The current AUMF is outdated and straining at the edges to justify the use of force outside the war theater,” Schiff said to Wired’s Danger Room.
Schiff is still in the very early stages of drafting the bill and doesn’t even have a timeline for introducing it. Yet Schiff’s effort is quite noteworthy since there was only one previous effort to change the AUMF. Obviously that failed.
The supposed end of the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014 – though of course the U.S. drone presence there will continue after that – will be used as a hinge point for the sunsetting of the AUMF, according to Danger Room.
However, Schiff said that he is unsure if Congress should pass a new piece of legislation that would give the president a limited version of the war powers given under the AUMF.
The American counterterrorism “architecture is becoming increasingly unsustainable,” Schiff said, “ut I have only a less clear idea of what should follow.”
Rep. Barbara Lee, also a California Democrat, was the only legislator to vote against the AUMF in 2001 and has failed in her efforts to get the authorization repealed since that time.
“I’m convinced that if we do not repeal this authorization to use force that I voted against in 2001, we are going to see this state of perpetual war forever,” Lee said earlier this year, referring to the AUMF.
The possibility of some kind of reexamination of the AUMF looks more likely than ever, that is, if we can take Obama at his word. Unfortunately that is very hard to do.
“I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate,” Obama said during his speech at the National Defense University. “And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end.”
That statement was quite different from the position of then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta who said the U.S. must maintain open-ended drone war to prevent another attack on America.
Similarly, generals from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior civilians at the Pentagon all argued that the AUMF was necessary and should remain in place unchanged during a hearing last week.
Obama’s position seems somewhat self-contradictory. Even Danger Room’s Spencer Ackerman pointed out, “At the National Defense University, Obama simultaneously talked about a longer war and removing his own authorities for waging it.”
Then again, when the Obama administration admits to killing American citizens while refusing to ever explain the legal justification for the killings in court, that kind of inconsistent statement isn’t all that surprising.
“There’s probably bipartisan support for the idea that the existing AUMF is ill-suited to the nature of the threats we face now,” Schiff said.
Yet Schiff also noted there will probably be “bipartisan opposition to what would come after.”
Schiff’s efforts are still in the quite formative stages but it can’t hurt to encourage him to push for a much overdue challenge to the AUMF.
You can contact him by calling his Washington D.C. office at (202) 225-4176 or writing him at 2411 Rayburn HOB Washington D.C. 20515. You can contact him at his Burbank, California office by calling (818) 450-2900 or (323) 315-5555 or writing him at 245 East Olive Ave., #200 Burbank, California 91502.
More at EndtheLie.com – http://EndtheLie.com/2013/05/23/rep-adam-schiff-preparing-legislation-that-could-end-aumf-remove-authority-for-war-on-terror/#ixzz2UXMn6TbZ
This is very very important to all who want to unwind the bush and up to current powers of the militaristic govt which has been created and would cause much civil unrest to come to a much lower degree IMO. call and email Adam Schiff today
This will do absolutely nothing but placate an angry population for another month. It will give them the deluded hope that peaceful change can come through new legislation, but this will change nothing.
It almost looks as if the idea is being proposed just to make it seem futile when he says “but I have only a less clear idea of what should follow.”
Doesn’t it sound like the author of this bill saying “I don’t know what we’d do without the AUMF”?
Pure propaganda if you ask me.
Okay maybe but its a step in the correct direction and its always a process not a one nite stand and all is well. We didnt get to this in one year one decade but decades many decades and masses of population intoxicated with liquidity and an un precidented boom period in human history on many many levels. Sometimes I think this is a test of humanity on whether humans can actually get beyond themselves? Think about it so preoccupied with self whether fear based or greed based all the same and destructive and not so constructive. Creative thought is required to grow and it takes time time time and patience. I know its messed up all around but thats how it is during change.
Dreamer.
NO amount of legislation will accomplish ANYTHING.
Those of us who are FULLY awake are well aware of this fact. The ONLY option they’ve left us to set things right is a revolution, and the sooner you figure this out, the better chance you’ll have of surviving.
If there was any possibility that this bill would pass, Adam Schiff would be “Wellstoned”. TPTB found their “shill” to throw the discontent a few crumbs to placate the masses while they continue to rape and pillage.
“Wellstoned”… I like that word!
Thanks Smilardog although I can’t take credit for it and am unable to recall where I first heard it.