The House Foreign Affairs Committee at the US Congress voted this week to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that allowed the war in Iraq.
The committee voted late Thursday 28 to 19 in favor of the bill, which was introduced by Democrat Barbara Lee of California.
Supporters of the bill argue it is an old military authorization that does not respond to the current threats that the US faces in the region.
“It was passed to authorize a war against Saddam Hussein almost 20 years ago,” Representative Gregory Meeks, the committee’s chairman, said, arguing for the repeal of the 2002 AUMF. “Saddam Hussein is long gone.”
Meeks said there are threats from ISIS and al-Qaeda. However, “the 2002 AUMF doesn’t assist us take care of any of those threats.”
The chairman explained that US forces would remain in Iraq and that the president can at all times defend America and US forces through Article II of the US Constitution.
US President Joe Biden referred to Article II last February when he ordered military strikes in Syria against Iran-backed militias from neighboring Iraq without consulting Congress, while former US President Donald Trump used the 2002 AUMF to launch attacks on Iraq that led to the killing of leader of Iran’s Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
Lawmakers seek to replace the Iraq war authorization with an updated bill that copes with the current threats. However, several congressmen fear that repealing the 2002 Iraq war authorization would be passed without a replacement.
“Doing this the right way, I think, involves consulting with the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the White House, the intelligence community, the government of Iraq and our coalition partners and allies to fully understand the impact of just an outright stand-alone repeal,” Mike McMcCaul, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said before the vote.
