Approves the bill that revoked the US authorization to invade Iraq
A final vote was held in the Senate to pass a bill to formally repeal the US President’s authorization to use military force against Iraq in 1991 and 2002, titled “Authorization for the Use of Force Military in Iraq (AUMF)”. In the vote, 66 deputies voted “yes” and 30 deputies voted “no”.
The senators who supported the bill, in their speeches before the vote, asserted that the world has changed in the 20 years since the invasion of Iraq and emphasized that Iraq is now one of the important partners of the US.
The senators had anticipated that the mandate would be lifted the week of March 20, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. However, due to the votes on the proposals of some deputies to change the content instead of abolishing the authority, the final vote could take place today.
To repeal the mandate, it must also be approved by the House of Representatives and President Joe Biden.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted to revoke the mandate twice in the last three years. The bill in question was voted on in the House of Representatives in 2021, but was not on the Senate agenda.
The authority of the AUMF was last used for the operation in which former US President Donald Trump killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
IRAQ INVASION
The US Congress authorized the president to use military force to drive Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait in 1991 during the Gulf War and for the 2002 invasion of Iraq.
Coalition forces led by the United States and Britain invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, claiming that “Saddam Hussein produced biological weapons.” The United States and the United Kingdom, which supported it, launched “Operation to Liberate Iraq,” which was intended to bring “stability and democracy” to Iraq without waiting for a decision from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
This military intervention, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their lives and billions of dollars were spent, paved the way for the rise of the terrorist organization DAESH, as well as the political and social chaos that civilians in the country will pay for. . (AA)