I am thrilled to report we successfully launched our LA campaign to repeal the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) with a visit to the office of Rep. Judy Chu, where we met with her aide Matthew Hovsepian. The following people took part in our dynamic intefaith delegation:
- Grace Dyrness, president of ICUJP and a professor at USC, who travels around the world giving workshops and consulting with nonprofits.
- Bert Newton, Mennonite activist, organizer of the Palm Sunday Peace Parade and author of "The Subversive Gospel of John."
- Rabbi Joshua Grater, Pasadena Jewish Temple
- Randy Christopher, director of the Peace and Justice Academy
- Madeleine and Audrey Cameron, students at PAJA, and winners of the city-wide MLK essay contest
- Cody Lowry, Quaker opera singer
- Tarek Shawky, Muslim lawyer, member of the Northwest Commission
Hovsepian was very cordial and took notes as we shared our views. He made it clear that Rep Chu has focused mainly on domestic issues, where she had taken liberal positions. He also mentioned that when the US threatened to bomb Syria because of Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons, he received 450 letters from constituents urging Rep Chu not to authorize bombing Syria, and only 8 responses in support of bombing. I told Matt this demonstrates that Pasadenans mostly favor nonviolent solutions to conflict, and they would support repealing the AUMF.
Furthermore, nonviolent solutions often work better than violent responses. Trillions have been spent, and countless lives lost and ruined, on war since 9/11, with little good to show for it. Thanks to diplomacy, we have set up a process that will lead to the destruction of Assad's chemical weapon stockpile without firing a shot or killing anyone, and negotiations are under way to ensure that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons.
I shared with Matt the AFSC/FCNL study "Shared Security" that shows how nonviolent methods have been used successfully to resolve conflicts in various parts of the world.
We asked that Rep Chu make a public statement in support of Adam Schiff's bill to repeal the AUMF. Matt said he would bring up this matter with Rep Chu.
We felt it was a good meeting. We planted a seed of peace that will hopefully grow as we continue to meet with Matt and eventually with Judy Chu as well. It takes time to help people see that peace making really is preferable to war.
Here is what we shared with Rep Chu's aide, including my introductory remarks:
****
I want to thank Rep. Chu for her liberal stand on many
social and domestic issues. I regard her as liberal in the best sense of that much
maligned word— “progressive, broad-minded,
unprejudiced, and charitable.” I think we are generally in agreement with her
positions on health care, foreclosure prevention, job creation, education,
immigration, renewable energy, LGTBQ issues, worker rights, etc.
However, we’d like her to take a stronger stand on peace making. As long as we have a bloated military, fighting futile wars all around the world, there won’t be enough funds to meet the urgent domestic needs of Americans. Here in Pasadena, the Housing Department’s budget has been cut 85%, yet 23,000 Pasadenans are in need of affordable housing. We have over 700 homeless people on our streets and the government is cutting funds to shelters and Section 8. According to a recent study, nearly 23% of Californians live in poverty.
1) We agree with Adam
Schiff that Congress never intended to give the President authority to engage
in a perpetual war to combat terrorism without the oversight of Congress. It is
time to sunset the AUMF.
2) We support Rep Barbara
Lee, who was the lone Congress member to oppose the AUMF initially and has
called for a complete
listing of all instances in which the AUMF has been used. According to Rep Lee,
the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report lists 30 instances where the
AUMF has invoked by Presidents Bush and Obama, including to deploy troops in
Ethiopia, Djibouti, Georgia, and Yemen, justify detentions at Guantanamo Bay,
and conduct military commissions.
3) We oppose the way that
the AUM has been used to justify drone warfare, targeted assassination, NSA
spying, “black sites,” torture, Guantanamo detention, and interventions in
various counties, from Ethiopia to Yemen.
4) We disagree with the
assumption that the best way to combat terrorism is through violence, like
targeted assassination, drone warfare, etc. We are convinced that the use of
drones is immoral, illegal and counterproductive.
5) We feel that the best
defense against terrorism is “shared security,” using diplomacy, legal action
(such as international courts) and other nonviolent means.
6) We agree with the
President that Guantanamo must be closed. We believe that all prisoners under
US custody should be given a fair trial with due process, as we did with Nazi
war criminals. Most Guantanamo prisoners are not criminals, however, and have
been cleared of all charges. They should be released without delay to the
country of their choice.
7) Funds should be diverted
from our bloated military budget to social needs, like schools, health care,
and affordable housing. Our best defense is a strong economy with benefits
shared by all, not just by the 1%.
8) We have spent trillions
on war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and have nothing to show for it. There was no
Al Qaida forces in Iraq; now they are fighting a civil war against Iraq’s Shi’a
government, and also fighting in Syria. Life has gotten worse, not improved,
for Iraqs, millions of whom fled to Syria. Because we support rebel forces in
Syria, violence has increased and refugees are flying to Lebanon and Jordan,
creating more instability. Our military interventions are worsening conditions
for people around the world and sowing the seeds of hatred, which will
eventually lead to more terrorist attacks against Americans. By objective
measures, our military exploits since 9/11 have been a complete failure. It is
time to try nonviolent alternatives. As Einstein said, the definition of
insanity is to do the same thing over and over gain and expect different
results.
Rep. Adam Schiff To Introduce Legislation to Sunset
Authorization for Use of Military Force
Monday June 10, 2013
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA),
a senior Member of the Intelligence Committee, announced that he was
introducing legislation tomorrow – before the debate on the National Defense
Authorization Act begins this week – that would sunset the Authorization for
Use of Military Force (AUMF) beginning in 2015. Following the September 11
attacks, the Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force to
provide the President with requisite authorization to use “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.”
Schiff's legislation finds that the Authorization to Use Military Force
(AUMF) now poorly defines those who pose a threat to the country, and that it
should expire concurrent with the end of our combat role in Afghanistan. The
bill sunsets the AUMF effective December 31, 2014.
“When Congress passed the AUMF shortly after 9/11, we did not intend to
authorize a war without end,” said Rep. Adam Schiff. “The cessation of our
combat mission in Afghanistan next year is a logical end point for an
authorization that now provides a poor description of the groups which threaten
us, and an increasingly precarious legal rationale for going after them. As the
President observed recently, if we don't define the nature of the threat we
face, it will define us.”
Since the AUMF passed, the U.S. has invaded Afghanistan, toppling the
Taliban and routing the core of Al Qaeda. The authorization has also been used
to support targeted strikes against Al Qaeda's operatives in other countries,
and used as a basis to detain terrorists at the facility at Guantanamo Bay.
The country now face threats from individuals, entities and
organizations that may affiliate with al Qaeda, or share its ideology and its
determination to attack Americans, but which may not have even been in
existence on September 11, 2001. With the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from
Afghanistan and the transition to Afghan national security forces at the end of
2014, it is time for the President and Congress to work together to determine a
proper legal basis for protecting the country going forward. The bill will
effectively give Congress the next 18 months to do so.
In his recent speech at the National Defense University, President Obama
specifically called on Congress to work with him. “I look forward to engaging
Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal,
the AUMF’s mandate,” Obama said. “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.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2013
Contact: Carrie Adams (202) 225-2661
July 17, 2013
Contact: Carrie Adams (202) 225-2661
Washington, D.C.— Today,
Congresswoman Barbara Lee released a report from the Congressional Research
Service (CRS) surrounding the presidential utilization to undertake military
and other actions under the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF),
which was enacted in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on
the United States.
“As the only Member of Congress to vote against the AUMF on September 14th,
2001, I have been deeply concerned about this overly-broad blank check for
war,” said Congresswoman
Lee. “I knew then, as I know now, that it gives any president
the nearly unlimited authority to wage limitless war at anytime, anywhere, for
any reason, in perpetuity. Until this report, we did not have a public
accounting of the number of times that it had been cited. I’m certain this will
prove a useful tool for my colleagues and the American people and help shine a
spotlight on the uses of the AUMF.”
The report lists 30 instances where the AUMF has invoked by Presidents
Bush and Obama, including to deploy troops in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Georgia, and
Yemen, justify detentions at Guantanamo Bay, and conduct military commissions.
The data from this report includes information gleaned solely from two publicly
available GPO publications: Federal Register and Compilation of Presidential
Documents.
“What continues to concern me, however, is that this information is
based on what is only publically reported. We don’t know the further, full
extent, including the ongoing use of lethal drones, surveillance, unlimited
detention, and other actions where the AUMF has been used as justification,” said Congresswoman Lee.
Congresswoman Lee has consistently called for repeal of the AUMF; to
that end, in the 113th Congress, Congresswoman Lee introduced HR 198.
In addition to her ongoing efforts, this week, Congresswoman Lee will introduce
an amendment to the 2014 Defense Appropriations Bill which would require the
Department of Defense to produce a comprehensive report on the uses of AUMF, in
both classified and unclassified forms, to bring further accountability and
Congressional oversight on this issue.
Rep. Adam Schiff To Introduce Legislation to Sunset
Authorization for Use of Military Force
Monday June 10, 2013
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA),
a senior Member of the Intelligence Committee, announced that he was
introducing legislation tomorrow – before the debate on the National Defense
Authorization Act begins this week – that would sunset the Authorization for
Use of Military Force (AUMF) beginning in 2015. Following the September 11
attacks, the Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force to
provide the President with requisite authorization to use “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.”
Schiff's legislation finds that the Authorization to Use Military Force
(AUMF) now poorly defines those who pose a threat to the country, and that it
should expire concurrent with the end of our combat role in Afghanistan. The
bill sunsets the AUMF effective December 31, 2014.
“When Congress passed the AUMF shortly after 9/11, we did not intend to
authorize a war without end,” said Rep. Adam Schiff. “The cessation of our
combat mission in Afghanistan next year is a logical end point for an
authorization that now provides a poor description of the groups which threaten
us, and an increasingly precarious legal rationale for going after them. As the
President observed recently, if we don't define the nature of the threat we
face, it will define us.”
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