AUMF Hunger Strike Enters 15th Day

Miami, FL, April 12, 2013 --(PR.com)-- The hunger strike of the human rights and civil liberties activist known as IronBoltBruce entered Day 15 at 6:00am ET on Wednesday 10 April 2013. The record-holding long distance motorcycle rider has eaten nothing since his fast began on 27 March and declares "I've lost 23 pounds and some of my strength but none of my resolve to see AUMF 2001 repealed and my grandchildren saved."

His seminal act has initiated the "AUMF Hunger Strike" - Twitter hashtag #AumfHungerStrike - the singular demand of which is the repeal of Public Law 107-40, the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act signed into law by George W. Bush on 18 September 2001. Enacted just seven days after the attacks of 9/11, "AUMF 2001" gave the President sweeping and essentially unchecked powers to wage a global war of vengeance against the alleged perpetrators. Specifically, the President was and 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" (http://1.usa.gov/cnvcPB).

Over the ensuing 11 years, the AUMF 2001 carte blanche has served as the legal justification for a number of controversial military and government actions both abroad and at home, and by both President Bush and President Obama. Both administrations asserted AUMF as their authority to violate the sovereignty of nations with which we are not at war and conduct drone strikes which in Pakistan, for example, are reportedly killing 49 innocent civilians - including children - for every 1 "known terrorist" taken out (http://bit.ly/NOthd0). When on Valentine's Day 2012 Obama signed "H.R.658 FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012" into law as Public Law 112-95 (http://1.usa.gov/yMuEU1) he authorized the use of drones in American airspace, and whether under AUMF 2001 that authority extends to the government execution of domestic airstrikes against American citizens was the focus of Senator Rand Paul's widely publicized 12-hour filibuster last month.

Also here at home, AUMF 2001 serves as the statutory basis for Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2012, or "NDAA 2012", signed into law by Barack Obama on New Year's Eve 2011 as Public Law 112-81 (http://1.usa.gov/u5MbV0). Known also as the "Homeland Battlefield" or "Indefinite Detention" provision, it gives the federal goverment "police state" authority to detain without charge and hold without trial American citizens on American soil, effectively nullifying the protection of habeas corpus and overriding the Bill of Rights. NDAA 2012 Section 1021 is being contested as unconstitutional in federal court by a group of activists headed by Pultizer Prize winner Chris Hedges, but for now it remains law (http://stopndaa.org).

An American citizen and grandfather concerned about the future and freedom of his grandchildren, IronBoltBruce, principal of VVV PR, is committed to the AUMF Hunger Strike in hopes of raising public awareness of the threats to life and liberty posed by AUMF 2001 and NDAA 2012. The repeal of AUMF will undo NDAA, and that is what the AUMF Hunger Strike demands. Congresswoman Barbara Lee - the only U.S. Representative to vote against the 2001 AUMF - recently sponsored "H.R. 198: Repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force" (http://bit.ly/163zDfE), the passage and enactment of which would satisfy AUMF Hunger Strikers like IronBoltBruce. Unless more concerned citizens participate in the hunger strike and support http://RepealAUMF.org (@RepealAUMFNow) in order to inspire a groundswell of grassroots political and direct action, however, GovTrack.us gives H.R. 198 a "2% chance of getting past committee" and a "0% chance of being enacted."