Tapper presses Ocasio-Cortez on Afghan War, AUMF stance: ‘What would you have supported?’ | TheHill – The Hill

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CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Tuesday asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezPelosi seeks to tamp down anti-Semitism controversy Ocasio-Cortez says she ‘breaks fourth wall’ and responds to attacks to ‘squash’ them early Press: Donald Trump channels Fidel Castro MORE (D-N.Y.) what she thinks “the U.S. should have done post-9/11 regarding Afghanistan” after the freshman congresswoman said that both the GOP and Democrats led her generation “into a disastrous” and “wrong war” and called for an end to the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).

Tapper, who interviewed Ocasio-Cortez in September on CNN’s “The Lead,” asked Ocasio-Cortez what she would have supported following the 9/11 attacks.

“Congresswoman, could you please explain more about what you think the US should have done post-9/11 regarding Afghanistan? Should there not have been any NATO/US action versus AQ/Taliban in your view? A limited one? What would you have supported?” he asked. 

 

The news anchor was responding to a series of tweets from Ocasio-Cortez in which the lawmaker said she remembers a time when it was “unacceptable” to question war, specifying that she meant Afghanistan. 

“I remember a time when it was ‘unacceptable’ to question the Iraq War,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote before correcting herself that she meant the war in Afghanistan that began in October 2001.

“All of Congress was wrong, including both GOP & Dem Party, and led my generation into a disastrous [and] wrong war that virtually all would come to regret, except for the one member who stood up: Rep. Barbara LeeBarbara Jean LeeCory Booker introduces bill to legalize marijuana nationwide Dems offer resolution calling for end to Korean War Betting against Bernie? Dems assess the risk MORE,” she wrote of the Democrat from California.

Ocasio-Cortez responded to Tapper’s tweet later on Tuesday, saying that she thinks that the decision to “enter unlimited engagement in Afghanistan … was a mistake.”

“I think that our decision to enter unlimited engagement in Afghanistan, particularly through the AUMF + Congress’ abdication of power + decision-making w/ passage of the AUMF, was a mistake. Other options: targeting the network itself, limited engagement, non-intervention,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.

The AUMF was passed three days after the Sept. 11 attacks. It gives the president the authority “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons.”

It passed the Senate unanimously by a 98-0 and by a 420-1 vote in the House on Sept. 14, 2001. Lee was the only member of Congress to cast a dissenting vote.

The AUMF has since been used 37 times by Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump in 14 different countries combined.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/media/432637-tapper-presses-ocasio-cortez-on-afghan-war-aumf-stance-what-would-you-have

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