Grayson: No ‘Blank Check’ in Use of Military Force Request to Target ISIS
(WASHINGTON. D.C.) -- Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-9) questioned a panel of military experts Thursday on the Administration’s recent request to Authorize the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, and both he and they voiced their same doubts about the unknown limits and scope that Congress is being asked to grant in this attempt to target ISIS.
“You just described a blank check, which I’m not willing to give the President, or anybody else,” Grayson said to close his questioning.
Thursday’s Congressional testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee comes one day after the Administration asked for Congressional authorization for the use of military force to degrade and defeat ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, often referred to as ISIS.
When asked what the word “enduring” meant where the AUMF described “enduring offensive ground operations,” none of the experts could answer clearly.
“My answer would be a somewhat sarcastic one,” said former Iraq Ambassador James F. Jeffrey. “Whatever the Executive at the time defines ‘enduring’ as. And I have a real problem with that.”
“I have a real problem with that also,” said Dr. Rick Brennan, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. “I have no idea what it means. I could just see the lawyers fighting over this.”
“Enduring in my mind specifies an open-endedness,” said Dafna Rand, a deputy director at the Center for New American Security. “It specifies a lack of clarity of a particular objective at hand.”
Similar responses emerged when Grayson asked what the AUMF language meant by referring to groups who might fight “alongside” ISIL. One witness suggested that it would authorize U.S. attacks against any Muslim fundamentalists, anywhere.
“Nobody knows what the AUMF means, not even the experts,” Grayson noted after the hearing.
For the full, six-minute round of Grayson questioning, see this link.
Congressman Alan Grayson represents Florida’s 9th Congressional District, which includes Osceola County, as well as parts of Orange and Polk counties. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 8th Congressional District in the 111th Congress.
