AOC Calls Out Pentagon’s Dirty Laundry
From Colombia’s death squads to U.S. toxic dumps, her amendments drag the ghosts into daylight.
WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has introduced a slate of amendments to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) aimed at reshaping U.S. defense policy through the lens of human rights, environmental justice, and accountability in foreign military partnerships.
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One amendment would direct the Government Accountability Office to study the environmental, health, and economic fallout of abandoned U.S. military bases, including toxic contamination and cleanup delays that have left surrounding communities footing the bill. The study would also survey residents’ views on cleanup plans and explore compensation for medical and economic harms.
Another targets Colombia, Washington’s closest military ally in South America. Ocasio-Cortez is seeking a comprehensive State Department report on Colombia’s armed forces between 1980 and 2010, documenting alleged assassinations, disappearances, and the so-called “false positives” scandal in which civilians were killed and presented as enemy combatants. The report would also review U.S. weapons transfers and whether Colombian units complied with human rights restrictions on U.S. military aid.
A companion amendment goes further, barring Pentagon funds from supporting any effort to overthrow Colombia’s current president, Gustavo Petro, and requiring the White House to disclose any meetings between U.S. officials and coup plotters.
Ocasio-Cortez also turned her attention to climate security, directing the Defense Department to create a framework for assisting Bangladesh in responding to extreme weather disasters, including infrastructure to handle displacement from floods and cyclones. Her measure would also require sharing U.S. satellite data to improve Bangladesh’s flood forecasting.
Perhaps the most sweeping proposal seeks new safeguards on U.S. weapons sales. It would require that defense articles provided under the NDAA comply with international humanitarian law, and bar transfers to countries that restrict U.S. humanitarian aid. The amendment also mandates biannual reports on how U.S.-funded weapons are used abroad, including whether recipient governments are minimizing civilian casualties.
Collectively, the amendments reflect Ocasio-Cortez’s effort to leverage the must-pass defense bill to highlight issues of accountability abroad and justice at home. While many such progressive proposals have historically faced long odds in the NDAA process, they underscore the growing push from the left to align U.S. military spending with human rights and climate priorities.
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Way to go, AOC! Finally someone with courage!!!