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Twenty years ago this week, Congress voted to authorize the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Like many things from 20 years ago—landlines, Walkmans, and dial-up internet—the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq is now obsolete. But as long as it remains in law, it is far from insignificant.
In the two decades since this vote, three presidents have come and gone, with a fourth now in office. An entire generation of Americans has come of age. The world has changed in dramatic ways. But the law that authorized the Iraq War remains on the books, a living relic of America's Forever Wars. It is past time that Congress repeals this outdated authority and turns the page on the era of endless wars.
Even after the end of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our country is reckoning with the legacy of the Forever Wars waged after the 9/11 attacks. The weeks and months following that horrific day massively changed the delicate system of checks and balances meant to prevent unchecked military action abroad and keep Americans out of harm's way.
Our nation's founders understood that the executive branch is the most prone to war. With "studied care," they vested Congress—the branch most accountable to the American people—with the sole power to decide when and where our country goes to war. Sadly, in recent decades, Congress has largely abdicated that responsibility, and succeeding administrations have worked behind the scenes to expand the president's war powers far beyond what was envisioned by the founders or ever approved by Congress.
We must remember that the 2002 Iraq AUMF was based on the lie that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. When members of Congress authorized military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, in effect, they approved blank checks that could be abused by presidents decades in the future to launch unrelated military action.
By repealing the 2002 Iraq AUMF, Congress can also build momentum for the long overdue process of broader war powers reform. This also includes reining in the 2001 AUMF, the other post-9/11 war authorization that's been used to justify military actions in a long list of countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, and Niger, among others.
While Congress lacked the foresight to predict these harmful outcomes in 2002, there is now broad bipartisan support for repealing the 2002 Iraq AUMF among lawmakers and the American people. Measures to repeal the authorization have passed through the full House and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with dozens of Republican votes. The Biden administration has indicated its support as well, issuing a statement of administration policy in favor of repeal and stating that the AUMF "has outlived its usefulness and should be repealed." Meanwhile, more than 8 in 10 Americans say that the president's war-making abilities must be more restricted and that Congress must have the final say on whether the U.S. goes to war.
Detractors over the years have argued that the authorization is needed to allow presidents to respond to threats posed to U.S. troops stationed in hostile regions. But the fact is the president already has sufficient Article II authority to keep our service members safe when they are faced with a legitimate threat. Do we really want to continue allowing presidents the ability to commit troops indefinitely to an unknown number of countries to fight unclear adversaries?
When the Senate returns from recess, it must follow the House's lead and repeal the 2002 Iraq War authorization as part of the annual defense policy bill. Members of Congress must make good on the oath they made when they assumed office: to support and defend the Constitution. Key to this duty isreclaiming their vital constitutional role as the only branch of government authorized to make the difficult decision about whether to send U.S. troops into war.
Twenty years ago, Congress made one of the most consequential foreign policy decisions of our lifetimes when it voted to approve the invasion of Iraq. After years of bloody fighting, the death of Saddam Hussein, and the loss of countless American soldiers and Iraqi civilians, President Barack Obama declared an end to the war in 2011. Now, it's time for Congress to finally close the book on this war once and for all and take bold action to prevent the next forever war.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the 2001 and 2002 AUMF to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Representative Lee is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. She serves as co-chair of the Steering & Policy Committee, former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, chair emeritus of the Progressive Caucus, co-chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Health Task Force, and co-chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus. She also serves as chair of the Majority Leader's Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity. As a member of the House Democratic Leadership, she is the highest-ranking Black woman in the U.S. Congress.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
