What U. S. Congress should repeal on 2003 Iraq War
2023.03.28 14:13
What U. S. Congress should repeal on 2003 Iraq War
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – This week, legislation to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, against Iraq will be put to a vote in the United States Congress. This is the latest attempt by lawmakers to reaffirm Congress’s role in deciding whether to send troops into combat.
What you need to know about these war authorizations is provided here.
WHAT DOES AN AUMF DO?
Congress, not the president, has the authority to declare war under the Constitution. However, an AUMF can be passed by the Senate and House of Representatives to enable the president to respond to a threat.
After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991, the two that may be repealed this year were approved in 2002, prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein. They have been dubbed “zombie” authorizations because they never run out of time but no longer serve their original purpose.
Supporters argue that the AUMFs ought to be revoked because Iraq is not an adversary of the United States and because they may open the door to subsequent destabilizing military action that has little to do with the authorizations’ original purpose.
The 2020 assassination of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, who was in Iraq but was not targeted in connection with the earlier war, was criticized by some for Trump’s use of the 2002 Iraq AUMF.
What exactly is the “WAR ON TERROR?”
A third AUMF, which was passed just days after the attacks on September 11, 2001, is not currently being targeted by Congress members. The measure gave George W. Bush, who was president at the time, permission to target al Qaeda for the attack on New York and Washington.
Both Republicans and Democrats have used this AUMF to justify global military action because it does not expire and was not geographically constrained.
However, lawmakers stated that the ongoing campaign against militant violence outweighed the importance of repealing the authorization from 2001 before writing a replacement.
WILL THE Nullification Relax?
Over the past ten years, Congress has repeatedly attempted to repeal AUMFs without success.
Benefactors make statements are different this time, somewhat on the grounds that it has been a long time since the last Iraq war started, and on the grounds that Majority rule President Joe Biden, a previous congressperson, has said he upholds the cancelation and doesn’t completely accept that it will hurt public safety.
Both the Senate and the House have Democratic and Republican cosponsors for the measure. After procedural votes were overwhelmingly in favor, it is anticipated to pass easily through the Democratic-led Senate.
Given that Democrats have historically been more supportive of AUMF repeals than Republicans, its fate in the House under Republican control is less certain.
This month, Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said that there was a good chance that the House would pass a bill, but that it would need to be reviewed by a committee before the whole chamber would vote on it.
That might put off repeal. The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Michael McCaul, has stated that he does not believe the AUMFs should be repealed until a new AUMF has been written to replace them.
