It is time to leave 2001 behind

...and unauthorize the use of military force

Let’s mark out some reference points. It is a bit over 23 years since the attack so 2001. That is the same length of time from:

• Then end of WWI and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

• The end of WWII and the launch of Apollo 8 that orbited the moon and came back.

As Charlie B pointed out on X, we are still deploying military forces under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Last Friday, the Biden Administration sent to Congress their Letter to the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate Regarding the War Powers Report.

I just want to pull one quote from there to make my point.

United States Armed Forces in Iraq continue to advise, assist, and enable select elements of the Iraqi security forces, including Iraqi Kurdish security forces. United States Armed Forces also provide limited support to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission in Iraq. United States Armed Forces, as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, remain present in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq.

I directed United States forces to conduct discrete strikes on November 11, 2024, and on November 26, 2024, against facilities in Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated militia groups for headquarters and command and control, weapons storage, training, logistics support, and other purposes. These strikes followed attacks against United States personnel and facilities in Syria that threatened the lives of United States personnel and Coalition forces operating alongside United States forces, and that were perpetrated by the IRGC, affiliated militia groups, and other Iran-affiliated groups.

Let’s remind ourselves who and where the September 11, 2001 attacks came from:

• Terrorists were 15 Saudis, two Emiratis, one Egyptian and one Lebanese.

• It was bankrolled by Osama Bin Laden’s organization based out of Afghanistan.

None of the military operations described in the pull quote are even tangentially related to the 9/11 attacks.

• Osama Bin Laden is dead.

• We were defeated by the Taliban (who had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11) after a 20 year war.

• In what may be considered the worst national security decision since the US Civil War, we fought an inconclusive war against the Baath Party in Iraq (a nation that had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11) and still have forces in Iraq…doing whatever we are doing there.

• Somalia, Libya … do I need to keep going?

Time to let this go. It makes it too easy to involve in fights that are not ours, distracting us from the real game that is afoot in the Pacific.

Well meaning people with bad theories about human nature and national security have abused the 2001 AUMF. Not well meaning people have used it to play empire. It is time to take the keys back. The privilege has been abused.

In parallel, we also need to replace The Patriot Act (TPA).

First, if we are going after government bloat and inefficiency, TPA was written in haste and signed by President Bush six weeks after 9/11. Its powers allowed good and bad faith actors to abuse the liberties and freedoms of the American people, it also created malformed and bloated bureaucracies and organizations that are simply not fit for any purpose than to give union dues to public sector unions.

Second, our nation was formed based on individual liberty. Time has shown that our government should not have this level of surveillance power. It is as likely to be used against American citizens as it protects them. We’ve had time to learn what in TPA has strayed away from the purpose of TPA and what parts simply did not work.

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A final note. In Biden Administration’s letter to Congress, they did not use that decades long “Al-Qaeda” for … well … Al-Qaeda. No. Those insufferable hipsters used “al-Qa’ida”.

Stop.

This faux-intellectualism with language—an example of internationalist virtue signaling—only highlights a lack of seriousness. Like flying a rainbow flag from the Kabul embassy in the summer of 2021 kind of disconnect. It is from the same school as the culturally submissive and nationally beta spelling of “Turkey“ as “Türkiye“.

This is an English speaking country. We do not insert random apostrophe into words unless we are trying to mimic a comical accent (like ‘nogg’n, for fix’n). There are no umlauts in English. When serious people start to write and speak “Munich” as “München“, then perhaps I will be willing to entertain your argument. Until then, I’ll just assume you are a patronizing putz.