Grassley supports repeal of unjustified use of force

Oct. 16 marks the twentieth anniversary of Congress passing the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq (AUMF) which permitted President George W. Bush to use armed forces as “necessary and appropriate” to defend U.S. against the threats posed by Iraq.

The Iraq AUMF has helped enable two decades of seemingly endless war.

The Iraq War has been officially over for 11 years. It’s time to get the 2002 Iraq AUMF off the books and prevent any president from using it to further justify unauthorized military action.

The House has adopted an amendment to repeal the Iraq AUMF as part of the annual defense policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act. Senators Tim Kaine and Todd Young have filed a corresponding amendment to the Senate NDAA, which mirrors their stand-alone bill that has 51 bipartisan co-sponsors, one of them being Chuck Grassley. The bill cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June 2021, by a bipartisan vote of 14-8.

I am grateful to Sen. Grassley for supporting the repeal of the 2002 AUMF and hope that he and Sen. Joni Ernst to vote to repeal the 2002 Iraq AUMF in this year’s NDAA.

Mary Reinking

Oelwein