The Senate is moving forward with a vote to repeal the outdated legal authorizations for the US’s wars in Iraq. It’s mostly symbolic, but it has some real-world implications.
On Thursday, the Senate held a procedural vote to repeal the 2002 and 1991 authorizations for the use of military force in Iraq. It passed 68-27, teeing up a floor vote next week. The Biden administration supports the repeal, but the measure has a tougher path in the House.
It is significant that lawmakers would remove a piece of the scaffolding of America’s forever wars in the Middle East and would prohibit a future president’s abuse of the legislation. It also shows that Congress is willing to exercise its constitutional powers when it comes to war. The bipartisan effort is commendable.
But it’s not enough.
The repeal of the 2002 authorization for the use of military force won’t address two major ongoing dynamics that ensure that, even as President Joe Biden has ended the forever war in Afghanistan and has curtailed drone strikes, the war on terrorism continues.
First, the post-September 11 authorization that Congress approved in 2001 as the basis for US global counter-terrorism operations remains on the books and endures as the legal framework for ongoing US military efforts. It has been used in at least 22 countries. It’s the justification for the current presence of US service members in Syria and Somalia, thanks to the White House’s expansive interpretation of Al-Qaeda’s associated forces that now includes ISIS and militant groups that didn’t yet exist when the authorization was passed. But it’s been more difficult to muster consensus about sunsetting this 2001 authorization, as it’s been used more broadly, including by the Biden administration.
Second, it’s not likely to affect the 2,500 US troops in Iraq. The official combat mission there has been over for more than a decade, and they’re training and assisting Iraqi troops under security…
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