PLAW-107publ40.pdf

What is the military/veteran consensus about the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force being continually used to enter into proxy wars in foreign nations, even up to today, and even targeting groups that did not exist at the time of this Congressional Authorization for war?

In my opinion, the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) should be repealed, and an updated and current AUMF should replace it, specifically identifying the Islamic State terrorist organization as a target for U.S. military operations, in line with the Congressional power to declare war described in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, and in accordance with the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

The 2001 AUMF is too broad, and outdated. The powers granted to the Executive office by it are nearly unlimited, and must be revoked. Congress is the Branch of Government with the Constitutional right and responsibility to declare war, not the President, and in today’s world, with our economy crumbling and our people suffering, the United States can no longer afford to wage endless war around the world without representative oversight by the people. If America’s armed forces are to be sent into battle, their enemies must be named, their missions must be clear, and their goals must be achievable.

The reckless abuse of the 2001 AUMF for senseless proxy-wars on foreign soil - in Libya, in Yemen, in Syria, in Somalia, in Pakistan, in Iraq – is unconstitutional, and undermines one of the most important separations of Government power mandated by the Constitution: that the powers of the Commander-in-Chief, and the power to declare war, must not be contained within the same office.

As James Madison, respectfully known as the Father of the Constitution, stated: “Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper and safe judges, whether a war ought to be commenced, continued, or concluded. They are barred from the latter functions by a great principle in free government, analogous to that which separates the sword from the purse, or the power of executing from the power of enacting laws.”