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Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001
Law authorizing military action / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–40 (text) (PDF), 115 Stat. 224) is a joint resolution of the United States Congress which became law on September 18, 2001, authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the September 11 attacks. The authorization granted the President the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11 attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. The AUMF was passed by the 107th Congress on September 18, 2001, and signed into law by President George W. Bush on September 18, 2001.[1] Since its passage in 2001, U.S. Presidents have interpreted their authority under the AUMF to extend beyond al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to apply to numerous other groups as well as other geographic locales, due to the act's omission of any specific area of operations.[2] In December 2016, the Office of the President published a brief interpreting the AUMF as providing Congressional authorization for the use of force against al-Qaeda and other militant groups.[3][4] Today, the full list of actors the U.S. military is fighting or believes itself authorized to fight under the 2001 AUMF is classified.[5]
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Long title | Joint Resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States |
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Acronyms (colloquial) | AUMF |
Enacted by | the 107th United States Congress |
Effective | September 18, 2001 |
Citations | |
Public law | Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–40 (text) (PDF) |
Statutes at Large | 115 Stat. 224 |
Legislative history | |
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United States Supreme Court cases | |
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), ACLU v. NSA (2007), Hedges v. Obama (2012) |
The only representative to vote against the Authorization in 2001 was Barbara Lee, who has consistently criticized it since for being a blank check giving the government unlimited powers to wage war without debate.[6]
Business Insider has reported that the AUMF has been used to allow military deployment in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Georgia, Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iraq, and Somalia.[7] The 2001 AUMF has enabled the US President to unilaterally launch military operations across the world without any congressional oversight or transparency for more than two decades. Between 2018-20 alone, US forces initiated what it labelled "counter-terror" activities in 85 countries. Of these, the 2001 AUMF has been used to launch classified military campaigns in at least 22 countries.[8][9]