美国国家公共电台 NPR When The U.S. Military Strikes, White House Points To A 2001 Measure

When The U.S. Military Strikes, White House Points To A 2001 Measure  

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In the frantic² days that followed 9/11, Congress moved to give the president new powers, among them the power to use force to defend the U.S. against future attacks. Next week marks 15 years since lawmakers passed that bill called the Authorization³ for Use of Military Force. It cleared both the House and the Senate with overwhelming majorities, just one no vote between both chambers⁴. As NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports, the law is far more controversial today.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, BYLINE⁵: On a hot day last month, Peter Cook walked into the Pentagon briefing room.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PETER COOK: Afternoon, Everybody.

KELLY: Cook is Pentagon press secretary. He had an announcement to make.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COOK: I want to begin today with an update on the campaign to defeat ISIL wherever it tries to spread.

KELLY: ISIL, another term for ISIS or Islamic State.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COOK: Today, at the request of Libya's government of national accord, the United States conducted precision airstrikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya.

KELLY: The Pentagon press corps⁶ jumped in with questions. Why now? What are the targets? What's the end goal? Finally, well into Cook's briefing - this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COOK: Nancy (ph).

NANCY: Under what legal authority are these strikes being conducted?

COOK: Under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force.

KELLY: Take a minute to wrap your head around that. The 2001 authorization runs just 60 words. It grants the president a congressional stamp of approval to use force against those responsible for the 9/11 attacks and those who might have harbored them - in other words, against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Today, a decade and a half later, the Obama administration argues that the authorization continues to apply to U.S. military actions in Afghanistan - also that it applies in Iraq, in Syria and beyond, including, as you just heard, the ongoing⁷ airstrikes in Libya against ISIS, a group that did not exist on 9/11. Here's President Obama laying out the case.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The United States is at war with al-Qaida, the Taliban and their associated forces.

KELLY: Associated forces - that's key. Many terrorism experts call it a stretch to count ISIS as an associated force of al-Qaida when the two groups are now actively⁸ fighting each other. The president and his lawyers argue that ISIS and al-Qaida share the same roots and that both are focused on killing⁹ Americans.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OBAMA: So this is a just war, a war waged proportionally in last resort and in self-defense.

KELLY: Those comments are from a speech Obama gave in 2013. Since then, he has proposed a new legal authorization specifically aimed at ISIS. It went nowhere in Congress. Both Republicans and Democrats¹⁰ hated it, calling it too broad or not broad enough. Plus, after the Iraq invasion, casting a vote on military force carries political risk, so this is where things have stood ever since. Enter Captain Nathan Smith.

MICHAEL GLENNON: Nathan Smith is an Army intelligence officer.

KELLY: That's Michael Glennon, one of the lawyers supporting Captain Smith in a lawsuit¹¹, a lawsuit that names as defendant¹² his commander in chief, Barack Obama. Here's the backdrop. Captain Smith is active duty. He was deployed¹³ to Kuwait as an Army intelligence analyst¹⁴ supporting the campaign against ISIS.

GLENNON: He argues that he has been given an illegal order and directed to obey an illegal order by the president.

KELLY: Illegal, Glennon says, because Congress never signed off on war against ISIS. Glennon, now a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts, says this violates the War Powers Resolution, which, by the way, he helped draft as a Senate lawyer back in 1973. Today Glennon believes Captain Smith is stuck either fighting a war he does not believe is legal or risking court martial¹⁵ if he disobeys orders.

GLENNON: He is really confronted with a Catch-22.

KELLY: The solution - Glennon points to Congress. He says members need to step up and own the fight against ISIS.

GLENNON: That's the purpose of this lawsuit, and that's the vision of the Constitution - to hold members accountable for the decision to go to war.

KELLY: So if I'm hearing you correctly, you're not taking a position on whether any of these wars are just or not just. That's not the point. The point is, if the U.S. is going to go to war, Congress needs to authorize¹⁶ it.

GLENNON: That's precisely¹⁷ right.

GLENNON: Jennifer Daskal agrees. She's a former Justice Department lawyer, now a professor at American University. Daskal says the current state of affairs does not reflect the intentions of the founding fathers.

JENNIFER DASKAL: Congress is supposed to be declaring war, and the president's supposed to be making war. There appears to be a clear abdication¹⁸ of responsibility on behalf of Congress.

KELLY: And that, Daskal says, sets a dangerous precedent¹⁹, writing future presidents a blank check for war. Now, some members of Congress are pushing to weigh in - prominent among them - Virginia-Senator-now-Hillary-Clinton-running-mate Tim Kaine.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TIM KAINE: The 2001 authorization passed in the days after 9/11 is badly in need of an update.

KAINE: Kaine speaking on the Senate floor in 2014 - since then, he has repeatedly called on his fellow lawmakers to revisit the war authorization, a cause he could take to the White House if a Clinton-Kaine ticket wins in November.

Meanwhile another development to watch for this fall - a possible ruling in the lawsuit filed by Captain Nathan Smith. The government's latest brief is due to the court September 14, 15 years to the day since Congress passed the Authorization for the Use of Military Force. Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

3 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

4 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

12 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

13 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

14 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

15 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

16 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

17 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

18 abdication   

n.辞职；退位

参考例句：

• The officers took over and forced his abdication in 1947.1947年军官们接管了政权并迫使他退了位。
• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor.因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。

19 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。