Authorization for Use of Military Force against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [as proposed to Congress by the Obama administration]
Yes, ISIL is responsible for taking Ms. Mueller hostage and for endangering her life in a war zone. Her death is an awful tragedy, particularly given her humanitarian motivations and self-sacrificing efforts. But it is no small matter that there is no evidence to date that ISIL militants actually killed her. No one—not even the United States government—has said that's the case. The only known direct claim about a cause of death was this: Supporters of Islamic State had claimed on Friday that she was killed in a Jordanian air strike intended to avenge the burning to death of a captured Jordanian pilot.Family of Isis hostage Kayla Mueller confirms aid worker has been killed Raya Jalabi in New York, The Guardian, 10 February 2015
Obviously ISIL isn't exactly a credible source on its own, and they have incentive to lie about this incident themselves. All the same, their statement is the only evidence to date that is publicly available. ISIL provided a photograph of the apparent bombardment damage, though they made public no direct evidence of Ms. Mueller's passing. US officials could not determine her cause of death.The National Security Council spokeswoman, Bernadette Meehan, said that over the weekend, the family received a private message from Mueller’s captors containing “additional information”.
“Once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they concluded that Kayla was deceased,” Meehan said.
As Marcy Wheeler pointed out, But neither statement includes any agent with her death. The White House has “learned of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller.” Her family confirms she “has lost her life.”Amid ISIL’s allegations that she was killed in a Jordanian bomb strike, the utter lack of an agency here seems to suggest those claims are correct. When ISIL kills a hostage, agency is at the forefront. When a bomb kills a hostage, no one is to blame.
Sometimes, Death Just Happens By emptywheel, February 10, 2015
The USA can jump up and down about ISIL being responsible for Ms. Mueller's death all week long, but so far as what we know to date, a claim that ISIL forces killed Ms. Mueller may in fact be a lie.And yet the new "Authorization for the Use of Military Force"—under which this country asserts the power to make war—by implication makes that claim.
There are many other glaring problems with the state of war powers in the USA and the way this specific AUMF goes about enacting them. But let us, as a bare minimum, insist that any basis for war be the product of facts.
Lies our political leaders promulgated to justify wars are what carried us into our and our target countries' present worsening circumstances in the first place.