PROFILE IN COURAGE: Barbara Lee & America's Forever War

A Profile from Politico
How Barbara Lee Became An Army of One
She was the only member of Congress to vote against the use of force after 9/11. Now, she’s finding unlikely allies in her campaign against America’s forever war: Republicans.

By AUSTIN WRIGHT 30.07.2017

 

 

"The anti-war congresswoman — from an ultra-liberal congressional district that includes Berkeley, California — has somehow managed to spark an uprising, joined by rank-and-file Republicans, against House Speaker Paul Ryan. Their demand: Repeal the 2001 war authorization against Al Qaeda and begin debating a new authorization better suited for the wars of today. This strange alliance is all the more remarkable because Lee, one of the leftmost denizens of Capitol Hill, was famously the only member of Congress to vote against the original authorization of force, a vote held just three days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Explaining her decision at the time, she warned, in language that rankled many as the smoke still curled from the ruins of the World Trade Center, “As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.”

Read more > Politico

 

 

Barbara Lee agonized over her vote and came to grips with it as you can see and hear in her speech three days after September 11th. After one hour of debate in the U.S. Senate, she was the sole vote when she took to the floor of the House and said: "Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say let’s step back for a moment. Let’s just pause just for a minute and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control." Rep. Lee is now calling on Congress to repeal the 2001 and 2002 authorizations for military force, saying they have been used as blank checks for endless war. 

Published on Sep 12, 2007

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

This is how it all 'spiraled out of control' - this was another talk with Barbara Lee on Democracy Now two years ago. The world is more dangerous now, trillion$$$$$$$$$ spent

Published on Nov 19, 2015

Fourteen years ago, California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee Barbara Lee cast the sole dissenting vote against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Three days after the Sept. 11 attacks, she took to the floor of the House and said: "Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say let’s step back for a moment. Let’s just pause just for a minute and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control." Rep. Lee is now calling on Congress to repeal the 2001 and 2002 authorizations for military force, saying they have been used as blank checks for endless war.

 

With two generals on-staff inside The White House any reasonable person might get a flashback from Stanley Kubrick's classic  "Doctor Strangelove" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nixon's Chief-of-Staff: Alexander Haig