House passes repeal of Iraq War authorization

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to repeal the 2002 authorization for use of military force in Iraq.

The resolution allowed then-President George W. Bush to “defend U.S. national security against the continuing threat posed by Iraq” and to “enforce all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.”

In 2020, the Trump administration used the resolution when defending the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani.

Several Democratic lawmakers believe the resolution is outdated and ripe for abuse.

“Repeal is crucial because the executive branch has a history of stretching the 2002 AUMF’s legal authority,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It has already been used as justification for military actions against entities that had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist dictatorship simply because such entities were operating in Iraq.”

Some Republican lawmakers don’t want the resolution repealed, but updated instead.

They say the measure is still vital to national security, noting Iranian-backed militias are now operating in Iraq.

“This short-sighted apparently political effort to repeal the authority without a replacement sends the wrong message and will embolden the Islamic terror groups and the world’s largest state-sponsor of terror, Iran,” Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., said.

Previous attempts to pass a repeal have passed in the House but failed in the U.S. Senate. With a 50-50 deadlock in the Senate, the future of this attempt is unclear.

The Senate will take up the bill next week.

The bill has the support of President Joe Biden, despite the fact repealing the resolution would give him less power to authorize military action in Iraq.