Barbara Lee's 9/14/01 Speech

2018-09-17T01:42:20.725Z

Prescient speech from 2001 : Barbara Lee explains her rationale for voting against the Authorization to Use Military Force in Afghanistan, citing the overly broad nature of the bill.

In an op-ed she published in the San Francisco Chronicle nine days later, she explained her vote by pointing out that the resolution “was a blank check to the president to attack anyone involved in the Sept. 11 events — anywhere, in any country, without regard to our nation’s long-term foreign policy, economic and national security interests, and without time limit.” She added: “A rush to launch precipitous military counterattacks runs too great a risk that more innocent men, women, children will be killed.”

For her lone opposition to the power grab by Bush-Cheney, and her principled defense of the U.S. constitution's separation of powers, Lee was deluged with rancid insults and death threats to the point where she needed around-the-clock bodyguards.

TPF reminds you that only Congress has the power to declare war. The president is the lackey of Congress, no more.

All Videos Tagged separation-of-powers (Tulsa Peace Fellowship) - Tulsa Peace Fellowship

Barbara Lee's 9/14/01 Speech