Happy Birthday To The AUMF

The Daily Kos blogger smintheus didn’t forget that, on this day five years ago, the Senate approved the Authorization To Use Military Force against Iraq; there are no words I can summon to properly describe the resultant catastrophe that has since taken place. Instead, I will merely note the 23 prescient Senators who did the right thing by opposing it:

Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Chafee (R-RI)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Graham (D-FL)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wellstone (D-MN)
Wyden (D-OR)

And as you can see, there is one notable missing from that list, and I want to comment on her actions related to that fateful vote.

From here (7/27/2007)…

(It may be significant that Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for president, has called for the revocation of the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq, but not of the earlier 2001 AUMF which Bush claims makes him commander in chief of a borderless, endless war on terror.)

From here (10/6/2007)…

(Former North Carolina senator John Edwards) heaped criticism on Clinton, the front-runner in many polls. He blasted her for recently voting in favor of a Senate resolution to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization (my note: this actually expands the 2002 AUMF).

The blogger smintheus astutely noted that there is no recognition of this anniversary on the web sites of any members of Congress, thus making it an orphan.

I would respectfully disagree, though, noting that the war has at least one mother (if HRC gets the nomination, I’ll support her, but it will be damn difficult).