... and the lies just keep on rolling
SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2006, Issue No. 4
January 9, 2006
** CRS ON AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE
CRS ON AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE
The legislative history of the September 14, 2001 Congressional
resolution authorizing the use of force in response to the
September 11 attacks is concisely examined in a new report of the
Congressional Research Service.
The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF, has been
in the news lately because the Bush Administration has claimed that
it provided statutory authority for the National Security Agency to
conduct warrantless surveillance within the United States, a claim
that has been disputed by some in Congress and elsewhere.
The new CRS legislative history notes that the White House had
initially sought legislative authority "to deter and pre-empt any
future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States."
But "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 consequence, this portion of the language in the proposed
White House draft resolution was strongly opposed by key
legislators in Congress and was not included in the final version
of the legislation that was passed," the CRS explained.
A copy of the new CRS publication was obtained by Secrecy News.
See "Authorization For Use Of Military Force in Response to the 9/11
Attacks (P.L. 107-40): Legislative History," January 4, 2006:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22357.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment