A History Lesson for MSNBC TV Hosts
On Monday Sept. 22, 2014, the US government announced that US forces (and select Arab partners) had started the bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria.
On her television show on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow asked specifically “is it legal” to bomb ISIS in Syria under the Congressional war on terror authorization (aka AUMF) given by Congress to President Bush, and claimed as still valid by the Obama administration.
Rachel Maddow said, to the effect, ISIS didn’t exist when Congress passed the resolution aimed at Al Queda, it’s state sponsors and affiliated terror groups. But she is wrong. What is now ISIS did exist, but under other names.
Simply put, ISIS was created by Abu Musab Zarkawi’s terrorist organization al Qaeda in Iraq under the authority of al Qaeda’s Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri who, according to Wikipedia, outlined “a four-stage plan to expand the Iraq War, which included expelling US forces from Iraq, establishing an Islamic authority—a caliphate—(that would be ISIS) spreading the conflict to Iraq's secular neighbors, and engaging in the Arab–Israeli conflict.[9][10]” ISIS was created in the year 2006(!) to be a successor organization to al Qaeda in Iraq.
The answer is yes. It’s legal. Details follow below.
Here is the text of the Authorization.
Preamble
Joint Resolution
To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.
Whereas, on September 11, 2001, acts of treacherous violence were committed against the United States and its citizens; and
Whereas, such acts render it both necessary and appropriate that the United States exercise its rights to self-defense and to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad; and
Whereas, in light of the threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by these grave acts of violence; and
Whereas, such acts continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States; and
Whereas, the President has authority under the Constitution to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1 - Short Title
This joint resolution may be cited as the 'Authorization for Use of Military Force'.
Section 2 - Authorization For Use of United States Armed Forces
(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized 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 September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
(b) War Powers Resolution Requirements-
(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.
(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS- Nothing in this resolution supersedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.
(signed)
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
The relevant passage is Section 2(a). The language could have been more forthright about making it clear that future off shoots of terrorist organizations such as al Quada are also legitimate targets in the overall war against terrorist organizations. Still, the final clause is germane, force is authorized “in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.”
Most of the following information was found in Linda Robinson’s history of the Special Forces titled “Masters of Chaos. The Secret History of the Special Forces. (Public Affairs, New York, 2004)
ISIS did not miraculously appear out of nowhere. The original incarnation of what is now called ISIL or ISIS was in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era and the Bush administration’s Iraq War. The Bush administration frequently accused Saddam of harboring, training and coddling terrorists in the run-up to the Iraq War. That was a half truth, at best.
In fact, there was a terrorist organization located in Iraq, affiliated with al Queda, that was a refuge for many of the “Arab” fighters who fled from Afghanistan into northern Iran after the successful US invasion of that country. Some al Queda fighters were detained by Iran, and some may still be under “house arrest” there, but other fighters escaped detention and took refuge with the terror organization Ansar al Islam in Iraq
At the time of the US invasion of Iraq, Ansar al Islam had at least 700 fighters, and controlled about 300 square kilometers of mountainous territory on the border of Iraq and Iran. This terror sanctuary was not protected by Saddam as stated by the Bush administration.
Ironically, they were protected from Saddam by the US government. Ansar al Islam’s camp was located on the eastern edge of the US designated Green Line or Green Zone, into which Saddam was forbidden to send troops. This was created to protect the Kurds from Saddam. In essence, the terrorist’s sanctuary was protected from Saddam by the US Air Force.
The founder and leader of Ansar al Islam was a Jordanian named Abu Musab Zarqawi. The ruthless terrorist Zarqawi received some funding from al Quada and had developed a network of sympathizers in Europe, and, according to post conflict reports, tried to develop chemical and radiological weapons.
Also in this no man’s land area was the Badr Corps, a group of Iraqi exiles opposed to Saddam, and some Iranian exiles called the Mujahedeen e Khalq and several splinter groups.
The original war plan for the invasion of Iraq was for the 60,000 troops of the 4th Armored Division to deploy through Turkey and confront Saddam’s considerable forces in northern Iraq.
Ultimately, the Turkish Parliament refused to grant permission and Plan B was quickly created.
The 10th Special Forces Group was tasked with confronting the 13 Iraqi divisions consisting of about 100,000 men. The 10th Special Forces Group consisted of about 5000 Special Forces soldiers, plus the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Before launching attacks against Saddam’s forces arrayed along a 150 mile front in northern Iraq, the Special Forces needed to attack and defeat Ansar al Islam and Zarqawi on the US left flank.
A small group of Special Forces operators and several hundred Kurdish Pesh Merga fighters were tasked to defeat Ansar al Islam. The Pesh Merga were excellent fighters but they resisted modern military tactics, preferring to charge the enemy at the run in mass formation. The Kurds had a few pieces of captured Iraqi artillery and the US promised air support.
After a series of running battles on day one, the allied forces pushed the terrorist fighters back. Darkness came early in the mountains, and the fighting died down.
The Special Forces orders were to capture the town of Sargat, the terrorists main headquarters, which they did on the first long day of fighting. The next morning, the fighting resumed at a lesser pace as the terrorists were retreating.
After the first day, seventy enemy bodies were recovered, and almost half of the dead enemy fighters were foreigners. The foreign terrorists were from Iran, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.
The suspicion that Ansar al Islam was developing chemical weapons was confirmed when traces of ricin and potassium chloride were found by a team of site exploitation experts.
Also, found were atropine injectors, chemical hazard suits, and chemical weapons manuals written in Arabic.
Ansar al Salam was an al Qaeda linked terrorist group which had developed a major terrorist training camp and safe haven. The large number of foreign fighters killed in the battle confirmed that conclusion.
The victory was won in two days. Seven hundred terrorists had been routed from their safe haven. The final tally was at least two hundred Ansar al Islam fighters confirmed dead at the cost of three Kurds killed and twenty three wounded. No Americans were killed or wounded, despite the ferocity of the defense.
One of the mistakes made by high level US commanders in this battle was reminiscent of the failure of the US to seal off Tora Bora, which resulted in Osama bin Laden and hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters escaping to safety in Pakistan.
The fleeing Ansar al Islam fighters congregated in the town of Biyara, south of Sagrat. One of the Special Forces teams spotted them and called for air strikes, but inexplicably, no bombers were available. The enemy drove away in a large caravan. Zarkawi and his foreign fighters would live to kill another day. This was a mistake that would cost the lives of hundreds of US soldiers, as well as thousands of innocent Iraqis.
Before we continue with the legal basis for attacking and destroying ISIS, it is important to show that this particular battle can be a template for the up coming battle against ISIS. A handful of Special Forces soldiers, assisted by motivated Pesh Merga Kurds, assisted by US air strikes, routed seven hundred highly trained foreign terrorists in two days.
It should be possible to defeat ISIS in a similar though larger operation. The idea that it will take years to eliminate ISIS from Syria and Iraq is not credible. Worldwide, sure. They have operatives in many other countries, but cutting off the head of the snake in Iraq and Syria will starve those affiliated groups of leadership, funding and training.
So what is the origin of ISIS?
Zarkawi survived the US attack on the Ansar al Islam terrorist complex and eventually moved his organization into central and western Iraq. In 2005 he strengthened his ties with al Qaeda and re-branded his terrorist organization as Al Qaeda in Iraq. (AQI)
According to Wikipedia, “the attacks blamed on or claimed by AQI continued to increase in 2006. [17] In one of the incidents, two US soldiers—Thomas Lowell Tucker and Kristian Menchaca—were captured, tortured and beheaded by AQI.” Sound familiar?
According to Wikipedia, “In January 2006, Al-Qaeda in Iraq created an umbrella organization called the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC), in an attempt to unify Sunni insurgents in Iraq.”
But AQI’s violent tactics against innocent civilians alienated Sunni nationalists, and secular groups were also offended by AQI’s extreme fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic scripture. AQI’s violent tactics created conditions for a near civil war between Sunni and Shia militias which killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of both Shia and Sunni.
As a result, the first attempt to unify the insurgency under AQI failed.
However, according to Wikipedia, “On 13 October 2006, the MSC (created by Al Qaeda in Iraq) declared the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), comprising Iraq's six mostly Sunni Arab governorates, with Abu Omar al-Baghdadi being announced as the self-proclaimed state's Emir.[17][4] Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who had been the leader of the MSC, was given the title of Minister of War within the ISI's ten-member cabinet.[32]”
According to Wikipedia, in a “report by US intelligence agencies in early 2007, the ISI planned to seize power in the central and western areas of the country and turn it into a Sunni Islamic state.[35]” Really, 2007?
From the opening Wikipedia paragraph, “Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn also known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), or al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia was an Iraqi Salafi jihadi militant organization affiliated with al-Qaeda. It (AQI) was a major combatant actor in the Iraqi insurgency and played a central role in the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq.[4] Foreign fighters from outside Iraq were widely thought to play a key role in its network.[5]”
This is the Wiki article from which this information was obtained. “Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn” The footnotes were retained so you can easily verify the Wiki sources.
Wiki Article Link
So, Ansar al Islam morphed into Al Qaeda in Iraq which morphed into ISIS or ISIL with most of the same participants, the same violent tactics, and the same goals.
According to the “logic” displayed by several MSNBC hosts in reference to ISIS, if in 2015 al Qaeda changes its name to al Goldilocks & Lollipops, (aG&L) the US could not attack them, since aG&L did not exist at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center buildings. However, simply changing an organizations name over time does not change the organizations goals, philosophies or origins.
While through the years some of the terrorist participants, like Zarkawi, have been killed by either the US or as a result of fratricidal disagreements, it is evident that ISIS was created by al Qaeda terrorist organizations with the same basic terrorist agenda and philosophy of those who attacked the US on 9/11.
The fact that ISIS and al Qaeda have had a falling out at the moment doesn’t negate the fact that ISIS was created by al Qaeda operatives for the very purpose in which it is involved today and thus it is legal to attack ISIS under the 9/11 Congressional war authorization.
And by the way, I love Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes and all of the other MSNBC hosts and enjoy watching them every night they’re on. But they could do a better job fact checking.
Jim McMeans
Danielsville, GA