Washington: A proposal to repeal a law from 2001 that was interpreted to give the White House sweeping war powers was overwhelmingly rejected by the US Senate.
Over the course of more than 20 years, several presidents have used the same law to justify dozens of military interventions around the world.
An amendment to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) proposed by Republican Senator Rand Paul to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq was defeated this week by a vote of 9-86. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, was one of only four senators from each party to support the bill.
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Paul said in a statement after Wednesday's vote, "Today, I took the opportunity to authorize the U.S. Senate on 9/11 2001 to reclaim our constitutional right to wage war and send a message to the world that we will fight for peace." is the country of.
We should have "moved beyond symbolism and expressed our allegiance to the rule of law, our respect for the Constitution, and our sincere desire that peace, not endless war, be our legacy."
The amendment would have repealed the AUMF after a six-month period, as well as the authorization for the US war in Afghanistan, which would remain in effect after US troops leave the country in 2021.
After that, moderate-leaning Republicans said, "Congress can actually debate where and how to authorize the future force."
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On September 18, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the AUMF into law just days after planes hijacked by al-Qaeda militants brought down the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the World Trade Center in New York.
According to the Congressional Research Service, although the bill was intended to authorize military action against perpetrators of terrorist attacks, every president since Bush has used it to approve more than 40 different interventions abroad.
Although the law does not include the phrase "allied forces", it has been interpreted to justify action against both al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
Despite this, AUMFs have been used for military action in at least 22 countries since 2001, beginning with Afghanistan by Presidents Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden.
Senator Paul vowed to work to eliminate the authority, maintaining that the Constitution gives the authority to declare war to Congress, not the President.
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He has also co-sponsored, largely symbolically, a bill to repeal the AUMF, separate from 1991 and 2002, in an effort to formally end the Gulf and Iraq Wars. Since it recently got out of committee with a 13-8 vote and has some bipartisan support, it may do better than Paul's amendment.