Senate bans Bush from waging illegal war on Iraq 20 years too late
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The United States Senate is banning presidents from waging war on Iraq after Washington and its allies plundered - and continue to plunder - Iraq.
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In this June 21, 2003 file photo, U.S. Army Spc. Dandrea Harris handcuffs a family with plastic ties during a night raid in Habaniyah, Iraq (AP Photo/John Moore)
US Senators advanced bipartisan legislation on Wednesday repealing authorizations for the wars in Iraq 20 years too late, as the United States had invaded the country in 2003, and chaos has been consuming it ever since.
Both Republicans and Democrats supported canceling the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that empowered then-President George W Bush to launch the invasion, as well as the 1991 version that allowed his father, George HW Bush, to attack Iraq.
"The United States, Iraq -- the entire world -- have changed dramatically since 2002, and it's time the laws on the books catch up with those changes," said Senate Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer.
"These AUMFs have outlived their use. These repeals will not harm our service members abroad, nor will it hinder our ability to keep Americans safe," Schumer said.
The Democrat official had said earlier in the month that the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee would consider proposals to repeal the AUMF in Iraq.
The repeals in question passed by 66 votes to 30, with 18 Republicans aligning with Democrats to back the blue-led initiative two decades after Democrats voted in a narrow majority against the war.
US President Joe Biden said he would be signing the legislation if it makes it to his desk, but it might not make it through the Republican-led house of representatives.
Republican House majority leader Kevin McCarthy was recently asked by NBC News if he would bring the repeals to the House floor, but he would not commit to either option, saying: "I'd have to look at what their bill does first."
The 2002 AUMF repeal is more controversial than its earlier counterpart, a bill justifying several military operations in Iraq after the end of the war.
The controversial bill was cited in the January 2020 US assassination of the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Quds Force, Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani, by US President Donald Trump.
It is important to note that the legislation in question does not cancel the 2001 authorization of war in Afghanistan, which gave subsequent administrations, Democrat and Republican, broad powers to order military force against various nations, including Syria, Yemen, and Somalia.
Many Americans have forgotten about the atrocities committed by US-led occupation forces in Iraq since the invasion of 2003. However, the repercussions of the US war crimes and other serious violations of international law in Iraq continue to be an unavoidable part of Iraqis' daily life.
Trauma persists for most Iraqis, as 20% of people had had at least one murdered individual in their household as a result of the US occupation of their country, as per a survey conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB).
The US Senate overwhelmingly voted down a repeal of the AUMF, 86–9 last week. The repeal of the amendment was first proposed by Senator Rand Paul to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the war on Iraq.
Paul further warned that by maintaining the 2001 AUMF, Congress is holding on to a declaration that "war everywhere, all the time" is acceptable.
The GOP senator promised to continue his efforts to get the authorization overturned, contending that Congress, not the president, should wield war-making powers under the Constitution.
Congress passed an AUMF pertaining to the United States' participation in the Gulf War in 1991. In October 2002, Congress also authorized an AUMF authorizing military war on Iraq.
The House voted to repeal both AUMFs in June 2021, deferring the matter to the Senate.
Members of Congress have long argued that by passing and then failing to repeal broad, open-ended war authorizations that US presidents have then used for years to justify military action around the world, legislators have ceded too much authority to the president over whether troops should be sent into combat.
Since the 11 September 2001 attacks, the US has waged wars in a dozen or more countries, relying merely on fabricated interpretations of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).
