It Is Time To Repeal AUMF

Obama is taking heavy criticism from conservative circles for proposing that the 2001 authorization for use of military force be repealed.

In this case, I am bemused to find myself siding with Obama. The "War on Terror" has been going on for nearly 12 years. Longer than any actual traditional war in the nation's history.

The AUMF is simply a way for Congress to side-step its oversight responsibility. Were it repealed, Congress would have to, once again, take an active role in authorizing uses of military force on a case-by-case basis. How is that a bad thing?

The AUMF is a huge, open-ended grant of executive power, with minimal oversight. It's the kind of thing of which any real conservative or libertarian should be wary.

We are far beyond the point where we were in 2001, where we were worried about a specific active threat. In the modern world, there will always be threats and occurrences of terrorism. Ceding massive power to the executive branch because of that is dangerous. Our system is strong enough and nimble enough to respond to threats without that. The executive already has broad Constitutional latitude, and authority under the War Powers Act, to deal with imminent threats: nobody is going to complain if the President sends in a military unit to capture a van full explosives on the way to the Capitol mall, or takes out an incoming missile, but this broad, on-going shadow war needs to be brought back under Congressional oversight.

We managed to conduct the entire Cold War without any such open-ended executive grant of power.

Congress is complaining because they'd once again have to be accountable and involved in national security. That would help bring our entire foreign policy and security state back into perspective.

Another good step would be to repeal the Patriot Act. That's another expedient without which we managed to secure this nation for more than 200 years. I'm sure we could struggle along without it. I was never one of those people who was hysterical about the Patriot Act -- it's both less dangerous than its detractors say and far more dangerous than its proponents make it out to be. But what it is, is unnecessary. And we should be very, very wary of unnecessary grants of executive power. They are incompatible with a free nation.