ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has welcomed the US House of Representatives’ move to advance a defense spending bill that repeals the legal authorizations for combat in Iraq during the Gulf War and the Iraq War as further strengthening the non-hostile partnership between Washington and Baghdad.
The repeal notably does not affect the 2001 authorization, which the US currently uses as legal grounds for counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaeda, as well as against Iraqi armed groups.
In a late Wednesday statement, the Iraqi embassy in Washington said the repeal of the Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and of “the war laws” represents “a step that strengthens the path of partnership between Iraq and the United States and supports the bilateral relationship on the foundations of dialogue and cooperation."
The US House voted 312 in favor and 112 against terminating the authorizations.
The repeal is included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) under “Sec. 1219: Repeal of Authorizations for Use of Military Force against Iraq,” formally ending these legal jurisdictions.
The repealed AUMF - identified as Public Law 102-1, passed in 1991 - granted then-President George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) the constitutional and legal authority, under the War Powers Resolution, to deploy US military forces against Iraq.
In August 1990, the toppled Ba’ath regime - then led by Saddam Hussein - invaded Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War (August 1990-February 1991), claiming historical ownership of the Sheikhdom and accusing it of waging economic warfare through oil overproduction.
Public Law 102-1 authorized the launch of the US-led Operation Desert Storm, which expelled Saddam’s forces from Kuwait, enabled the establishment of a UN-demarcated border, and imposed heavy war reparations on Iraq.
The second repealed AUMF - identified as Public Law 107-243, passed in 2002 - authorized President George W. Bush (2001-2009) to use military force against Saddam Hussein’s regime, leading to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The repeal of these authorizations chiefly aims to reassert Congress’s constitutional authority over decisions of war and peace and formally close the legal chapter on conflicts that ended decades ago.
However, a key authorization that remains in place is the 2001 AUMF, enacted after the 9/11 attacks - which al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for - and which serves as the legal basis for US operations against al-Qaeda and ISIS, in addition to Iraqi armed groups.
In fact, during his first term, US President Donald Trump cited the 2002 AUMF to justify the January 2020 strike that killed Iran’s Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), near Baghdad International Airport.
Days later, 168 members of Iraq’s 329-seat parliament voted to expel foreign forces from the country.
Since then, Iraq has pushed to end the mission of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, which began military operations in Iraq in October 2014 with airstrikes and later expanded to advising and training Iraqi security forces. The coalition currently comprises 90 countries.
Baghdad argues that since ISIS has been territorially defeated in Iraq, the coalition’s continued presence is no longer justified.
RELATED: US-led coalition ‘completes’ mission in Iraq, shifts forces to Kurdistan: Official
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