Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11

 

The human costs of U.S. forever wars are further revealed every day. 2022 provides a critical opportunity to push Congress to close the door — and we will, with your help.  Please support this work with a donation today.

Our devastating bomb-first, authorize-later approach continues to treat Iraq, Syria, and so many other countries as the killing fields for U.S. proxy wars — regardless of the human costs. 

The result has been the deaths of thousands — many of them children — and there’s been shockingly little accountability. Azmat Khan’s recent exposé in The New York Times documents this tragedy across deployments in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.[1] 

With the growing public awareness of this toll, the pressure is mounting for Congress to act — because Congress is how we stop this. For decades, they have ceded their authority to the presidency, but Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution makes it crystal-clear that Congress has the SOLE authority to declare war.

Now, the dominoes are lining up: the House overwhelmingly voted — with bipartisan support — to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization, a key blank check for endless war earlier this year. 

We need to push like hell to get this bill across the finish line in the Senate — and it’s a fight we CAN win. The good news is, the Win Without War team has never seen so much bipartisan momentum on the Hill to rein in rubber stamp authorizations for endless war. So we’re doubling down on our visionary campaign to End Endless War — and we need your support.

Activists like you fuel our work, but fewer than 2% of people reading this will give. Our team has run the math, and it turns out that if everyone gave just $6 we could fund our entire End Endless War campaign next year from just this email alone. Can you donate $6 to make 2022 the year we End Endless War? Right now, the United States has war-footing in almost every continent: Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, and thousands of U.S. troops patrolling Africa across Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan.  That doesn’t even include the U.S. planes and drones, filling countless classified skies, that have been documented killing thousands in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and beyond. And president after president has abused two congressional authorizations (AUMFs) passed after 9/11 to justify almost all of them. A glimpse of what that looks like for the people on the ground? The U.S. military killing as many as 64 women and children huddled against a river bank in Baghouz, Syria, March 2019 A U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, this August, that killed Zemerai Ahmadi and nine family members, including seven children.  16 civilians killed, including three children, in a January 2017 strike in Mosul, Iraq. This is the heartbreaking reality of our forever wars. And it’s no accident.  Our system is geared towards war and violence because of the power of weapons contractors, because voices of impacted people are silenced or locked out, and because U.S. policymakers have, for too long, looked the other way. There is no sugarcoating that, Antonio. But here’s the thing we need you to remember: we CAN turn the tide of this broken status quo.  2022 could change everything. That’s why we’re ramping up our work to move into this next crucial phase of our campaign — and we need you with us: Activists like you fuel our work, but fewer than 2% of people reading this will give. If everyone gave just $6 we could fund our entire End Endless War campaign from just this email alone. Can you donate $6 to help make 2022 the year we End Endless War? Seven years ago, we named our goal to build a progressive foreign policy focused on justice, safety, equity, and peace in a visionary campaign: END ENDLESS WAR.  The debate about our nation’s post-9/11 wars has never been the same, and now we are SO close to achieving this incredible milestone — if we make 2022 our biggest year yet. Thank you for working for peace, Faith, Amisha, Stephen, and the Win Without War team --- [1] The New York Times, "The Civilian Casualty Files: Hidden Pentagon records reveal patterns of failure in deadly airstrikes" A U.S. foreign policy rooted in human rights and justice won’t happen overnight. If you’re with us for the long haul, consider a monthly donation. © Win Without War 2021 1 Thomas Circle NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 656-4999 | info@winwithoutwar.org