17.9.11
Many Americans probably think that the “War on Terror” began on September 11, 2001, when the terrible terrorist attacks took place, whose 10th anniversary has recently been marked. However, the “War on Terror” actually began on September 14, 2001, when Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which authorized the President “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.”
This open-ended document is the bedrock of the occupation of Afghanistan, which began on October 6, 2001, and of the detention of prisoners in Guantánamo, as the Supreme Court confirmed in June 2004, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, ruling explicitly that it authorizes the detention of those held as a result of the President’s activities.
It has also been “cited as an authority for him to engage in electronic surveillance against possible terrorists without obtaining authorization of the special Court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978,” as the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted in a report on the AUMF in 2007.
This fascinating report (PDF) also reveals that the AUMF could have been far worse, in the sense of allowing the President powers to behave as he saw fit, without the possibility that Congress could constrain him. On September 12, 2001, the White House gave a draft joint resolution to the leaders of the Senate and the House, and, as the report states, “This White House draft legislation, if it had been enacted, would have authorized the President (1) to take military action against those involved in some notable way with the September 11 attacks on the US, but it also would have granted him (2) statutory authority ‘to deter and pre-empt any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States.'”
Noting the gravity of the Bush administration’s intentions, the CRS explained:
This language would have seemingly authorized the President, without durational limitation, and at his sole discretion, to take military action against any nation, terrorist group or individuals in the world without having to seek further authority from the Congress. It would have granted the President open-ended authority to act against all terrorism and terrorists or potential aggressors against the United States anywhere, not just the authority to act against the terrorists involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and those nations, organizations and persons who had aided or harbored the terrorists.
As a result, the section which would have allowed the President “to deter and pre-empt any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States” was “strongly opposed by key legislators in Congress and was not included in the final version of the legislation that was passed.”
This was significant, and the scale of the President’s ambitions were glimpsed when, after the death of Osama bin Laden in May, some Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Buck McKeon (R – Calif.), wanted to revive the AUMF with a much broader scope (in line with the Bush administration’s original plans), rather than accepting that, with the death of al-Qaeda’s leader, the AUMF was no longer needed. The difference was that Rep. McKeon envisaged Congress in the driving seat, but it was still alarming that he was calling for what Spencer Ackerman of Wired described as “a big expansion of executive authority.”
I discussed the outrageous position taken by these lawmakers in an article at the time, entitled, “No End to the ‘War on Terror,’ No End to Guantánamo,” in which I also discussed the need for the AUMF to be scrapped as a justification for holding prisoners at Guantánamo neither as prisoners of war nor as criminal suspects.
This has been a long and lonely campaign on my part, as it is outrageous that, ten years after the 9/11 attacks, the legacy of the Bush administration’s reckless decision to declare a war instead of a crime on September 11, 2001, and to insist that it was appropriate to hold soldiers and terror suspects as “illegal enemy combatants” without rights, still exists at Guantánamo.
When President Obama found it difficult to close the prison, he was, at least, reassured that there was nothing illegal about continuing to hold prisoners at Guantánamo, because of the AUMF, and so, ten years after 9/11, it continues to be regarded as acceptable that the soldiers held in Guantánamo are not allowed to ask when the “war” in which they were seized will come to an end, and that the actual terror suspects — a few dozen men, including those accused of masterminding and being involved in the 9/11 attacks — are supposed to be subjected to trials by military commission, while every terror suspect not held at Guantánamo is tried in federal court.
In the Nation this week, John Nichols was the only mainstream journalist to take an interest in the 10th anniversary of the AUMF. He wrote that, on the eve of the 9/11 attacks, he was at a conference in Brussels, “Journalism in the Shadow of Terror Laws,” with Mary Robinson, the former Irish president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose words struck a chord with Nichols.
“I remember,” she said, “the loneliness of speaking out against the declaration of a ‘war on terrorism.’” She added, as Nichols described it, that:
The language we use to characterize events defines our response to them and when crimes against humanity were defined as acts of war, then an appropriate demand that those responsible for horrific violence be brought to justice was replaced with the overwrought and overarching demands of “a perpetual war of terror.”
Homing in on the Congressional approval of the AUMF on September 14, 2001, Nichols noted that this “perpetual war” has not only had a massive human cost, but has also been a political disaster, losing “both good will and authority over the past decade,” and has also involved a staggering financial cost — more than $7.6 trillion in defense and homeland security spending, according to “new accounting by the National Priorities Project.”
Nichols understands that America’s military-industrial complex would have found ways to try and bankrupt America without the “War on Terror,” although he is correct to explain that this “permanent war” has redefined America just as James Madison worried when he wrote in 1795, “Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other,” and when, in particular, he wrote, “No nation could reserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
In the US, Congresswoman Barbara Lee was the only lawmaker to speak out against he AUMF back in September 2001, when she warned, “[We] must be careful not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. We cannot repeat past mistakes.”
Barbara Lee was threatened and ridiculed for being the sole lawmaker to vote against the AUMF, but she has now submitted legislation calling for the AUMF to be repealed. “In reflecting on the rush-to-war in Afghanistan and President Bush’s misguided war-of-choice in Iraq,” she said, “my worst fears have unfortunately been realized.” She added:
Over the past [decade], this broad authorization of force has had far-reaching implications which shake the very foundations of our great nation and democracy. It has been used to justify warrantless surveillance and wiretapping activities, indefinite detention practices that fly in the face of our constitutional values, extrajudicial targeted-killing operations, and a policy of borderless and open-ended war that threatens to indefinitely extend US military engagement around the world.
Lee concluded, “It is time for Congress to reexamine, and ultimately repeal this flawed authorization. The alternative, to concede Congress’s constitutional responsibilities and blindly accept the persistence of war without end, is unacceptable.”
It remains to be seen whether the mainstream media will pick up on Barbara Lee’s proposal, or whether they will continue to allow themselves to be distracted by the self-serving lies of former Vice President Dick Cheney. This time around, as John Nichols explained, she has the support of 14 co-sponsors for her bill — 13 Democrats and one Republican.
This is an improvement, but much more interest is needed, if this dreadful legislation — the justification for “perpetual war,” indefinite detentions at Guantánamo, and the warrantless wiretapping of US citizens — is to be repealed, bringing the brutal and lamentable “War on Terror” to an end.
Note: Also see David Swanson’s article here.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in June 2011, “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” a 70-part, 700,000-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011, and details about the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and available on DVD here — or here for the US). Also see my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.
As published exclusively on the website of the Future of Freedom Foundation.
Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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18 Responses
Andy Worthington says...
On Facebook, Louise Gordon wrote:
Dugg . . . dugg . . . dugg . . .
...on September 17th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Karin Friedemann wrote:
The raids on Islamic charities and organizations began before 9/11.
...on September 17th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, Louise. I’m glad you appreciate the importance of this. And thanks also to everyone who’s shared this. The AUMF is such a big deal — and something that’s so rarely discussed — that I won’t give up on it, but for anyone who wants to know more, please check out David Swanson’s post here: http://warisacrime.org/content/congresswoman-lee-introduces-bill-repeal-authorization-use-military-force
If you’re in the US, you can ask your Representatives to support Barbara Lee’s proposal, to join those who, as John Nichols pointed out, have already agreed to co-sponsor the bill: Democratic Representatives John Conyers Jr. (Michigan), Donna Edwards (Maryland), Keith Ellison (Minnesota), Bob Filner (California), Raul Grijalva (Arizona), Mike Honda (California), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Jesse Jackson Jr. (Illinois), John Lewis (Georgia), Jim McDermott (Washington), Pete Stark (California), Maxine Waters (California) and Lynn Woolsey (California). One Republican, North Carolina’s Walter Jones Jr., has joined them.
...on September 17th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Andy Worthington says...
And thanks, Karin. That’s a very good point to make, but it was also shocking after 9/11, when so many Muslims were rounded up, imprisoned and and in many cases deported, and the rise of right-wing-funded Islamophobia over the last few years has been particularly depressing.
...on September 17th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Andy Worthington says...
George Kenneth Berger wrote:
Andy, I just read this. This article is indeed important. I’m pretty sure that few here know about the AUMF and Congresswoman Lee’s efforts. So I am sharing and digging this.
...on September 19th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, George. Yes, I agree — few know about Congresswoman Lee’s efforts, both in Congress, and in the population as a whole. It’s depressing that lawmakers don’t care and that the mainstream media doesn’t care, for the most part. As with Guantanamo, which the AUMF justifies, America has largely failed to scrutinize what its leaders and lawmakers have been doing, and without adequate scrutiny, bad decisions continue to have baleful outcomes.
...on September 19th, 2011 at 11:20 am
US Injustice Laid Bare, As Afghan In Guantánamo Loses His Habeas Appeal - OpEd says...
[…] and terrorists as one and the same, and to hold both as “enemy combatants” without rights, continues to resonate in the corridors of power, and in US […]
...on September 24th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Death From Afar: The Unaccountable Killing Of Anwar Al-Awlaki - OpEd says...
[…] he proceeded to explain, the justification for the program (as with the occupation of Afghanistan, illegal wiretapping and the detention program at […]
...on October 6th, 2011 at 2:23 am
Deranged Senate Votes for Military Detention of All Terror Suspects and a Permanent Guantánamo by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] thinks was involved in the 9/11 attacks, and it is a dreadfully open-ended excuse for endless war whose repeal I have long encouraged, but which some lawmakers have been itching to renew, even after the death of Osama bin Laden, and […]
...on December 4th, 2011 at 7:16 am
A Tired Obsession with Military Detention Plagues American Politics « Dandelion Salad says...
[…] for Guantánamo has never been adequately challenged. The basis for holding prisoners is the Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed the week after the 9/11 attacks, which authorizes the president “to use all necessary and […]
...on January 9th, 2012 at 4:07 am
Recent History of America: Part 3 | Simple Thing Called Life says...
[…] TagsCommon Sense 2012, Simple Thing Called Life (function() {var s = document.createElement('SCRIPT'), s1 = document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT')[0];s.type = 'text/javascript';s.async = true;s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js';s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1);})(); Digg DiggUnder the cover of chaos that sprung from the events of 9/11, our politicians began to pass laws which chipped away at the basic tenets of our Constitution by taking power from the people and giving it to the Federal Government. The first attack came just three days after 9/11, on September 14th, 2001, when Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists. […]
...on March 3rd, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Meet the Seven Guantánamo Prisoners Whose Appeals Were Turned Down by the Supreme Court | Eslkevin's Blog says...
[…] remit to ask why it is that the justification for all the prisoners’ detention — the Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed by Congress the week after the 9/11 attacks — fails to distinguish between those […]
...on June 18th, 2012 at 11:13 am
The Seven Guantánamo Prisoners Whose Appeals Were Turned Down by the Supreme Court « band annie's Weblog says...
[…] remit to ask why it is that the justification for all the prisoners’ detention — the Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed by Congress the week after the 9/11 attacks — fails to distinguish between those […]
...on June 21st, 2012 at 7:28 am
Meet the Seven Guantánamo Prisoners Whose Appeals Were Turned Down by the Supreme Court - World Observer Online says...
[…] anyone’s remit to ask why it is that the justification for all the prisoners’ detention — the Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed by Congress the week after the 9/11 attacks — fails to distinguish between those […]
...on July 5th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
freedetainees.org | “No Indefinite Detention At Guantánamo,” US Claims, Defying Reality – OpEd says...
[…] to justify the detention of prisoners seized in the “war on terror” — in particular, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed by Congress the week after the 9/11 attacks, which gave the President the right to pursue […]
...on March 24th, 2013 at 6:32 am
Trump’s Torture Project : What Do We Need to Know? – Sri Lanka Guardian says...
[…] Foundation and is a captain in the Navy Reserve Judge Advocate Corps, pointed out that the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which was described by the Miami Herald as “essentially a declaration of war on Osama bin […]
...on November 21st, 2016 at 7:10 am
Trump’s Torture Project : What Do We Need to Know? | SRI LANKA says...
[…] Foundation and is a captain in the Navy Reserve Judge Advocate Corps, pointed out that the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which was described by the Miami Herald as “essentially a declaration of war on Osama bin […]
...on November 23rd, 2016 at 6:50 pm
Obama Fails to Acknowledge His Own Mistakes – Sri Lanka Guardian says...
[…] In the end, it is also worth bearing in mind that the 2001 AUMF is the continuing justification for holding prisoners at Guantánamo, and should be repealed, as I argued five years ago. […]
...on December 10th, 2016 at 8:53 am