Biden's AUMF Lie

The president is claiming that the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs give him the authority to order the attacks in Iraq and Syria, but that is not true.

Spencer Ackerman catches Biden in a lie. The president is claiming that the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs give him the authority to order the attacks in Iraq and Syria, but that is not true:

Biden says that authority for the strikes lay "with the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) and the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq (Public Law 107-243)." 

Just to be clear, Biden's official policy is to repeal that Iraq AUMF. More striking to me is the invocation of the 2001 AUMF. That's the wellspring of the War on Terror. And while the 2001 AUMF is terrifyingly capacious, there is no way to justify the weekend's strikes "against the IRGC and IRGC-affiliated personnel and facilities" under it.

The Trump administration lamely attempted to use the 2002 AUMF as authorization for killing Soleimani four years ago, but absolutely no one bought it. It was preposterous to use a decades-old authorization for the invasion of Iraq as cover for the assassination of an Iranian general, and it is no less preposterous to apply it to strikes against local militias now.