Repealing the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002

Floor Speech

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Mr. CALVERT. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 256.

Though a combat-tested security partner, Iraq continues to be a fragile state. The 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force allowed the United States to end Saddam Hussein's reign of terror. It also allowed us to return and assist the people of Iraq when decisions made by the Obama-Biden administration led to the formation of ISIS and enabled the terror group to establish a caliphate in northwestern Iraq in 2014.

Now, that same Authorization for Use of Military Force provides the United States with the legal authority for military operations in support of our Iraqi partners, if needed, and against terrorist threats in Iraq, including those from the Iran-backed militia groups.

This critical piece of legislation provided the authority for last year's strike on Iran's terror mastermind Soleimani, whose IEDs, I might remind people, killed more than 600 American soldiers and wounded thousands more.

The Authorization for Use of Military Force also provides authority to strike Iranian-backed Shia militia groups that have and are currently attacking Americans in Iraq.

This shortsighted and purely political effort to repeal the authority without a replacement sends the wrong message and will embolden the Islamic terror groups and the world's largest state sponsor of terror, Iran.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill until we have a viable replacement that addresses the threat of Iran and its proxies.

We have already turned our backs on Afghanistan. We should not repeat this error in Iraq.

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