Recollection of the changes made to the wording of the original AUMF following 9/11. “Almost immediately some of our most seasoned members, including Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Carl Levin of Michigan, chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, respectively, pointed out the obvious flaws in passing a resolution using open-ended terms like terrorism, rather than focusing the language on those who actually had attacked us. As justified as it was to pursue real terrorist organizations, either military or through law enforcement, for generations virtually every repressive regime in the world from Ethiopia to Uzbekistan has tried to demonize their political opposition by describing them as “terrorist organizations.” I was not only relieved but proud to hear my colleagues successfully persuade a very nervous group of senators to carefully tailor the language into what ultimately became the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or “AUMF.””
– Russ Feingold, While America Sleeps, Page 23