Posted on 06/17/2021 8:21:33 AM PDT by RandFan
A Republican congressman called for Congress to repeal the Iraq War authorization and close the massive U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad on Wednesday.
Both the war authorization and the embassy compound played a role in the near war between the United States and Iran last year.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) called the president’s war powers “disturbingly broad” in a Wednesday morning floor speech as he urged members to repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force.
That law, also known as the AUMF, was originally passed to authorize the war to overthrow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but gives the president general permission to deal with “the continuing threat posed by Iraq.”
“Saddam Hussein’s regime was defeated in 2003. 2003, that’s eighteen years ago. (Former President Barack) Obama declared the Iraq War ended in 2011, but the AUMF was never repealed,” Massie said. “It gives a blank check to any current or subsequent administration to keep American soldiers in Iraq indefinitely, and puts us at risk of getting into another war.”
The 2002 AUMF has been used to justify two military operations in recent years. Obama used the law as part of his justification for re-entering Iraq to fight the Islamic State in 2014, and former President Donald Trump cited it last year after ordering the assassination of Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani, who was in Baghdad at the time.
Massie joins a growing chorus of conservative and Republican voices calling for the the 2002 AUMF to be repealed. But the congressman went even further by urging the U.S. State Department to sell its embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone.
Built at a cost of $750 million during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the embassy is the largest diplomatic post in the world.
“It’s time to scale down the embassy, put what’s there for sale, and bring our troops and our diplomats home,” Massie said. “We may get only pennies on the dollar for that embassy, but that’s better than sacrificing lives.”
The embassy was at the center of the near U.S.-Iranian war last gear. Amidst escalating clashes between Iraqi militants and U.S. forces in December 2019, a pro-Iranian militia ransacked the U.S. Embassy on New Years’ Eve.
Trump promised to make Iran pay “a very BIG PRICE,” and U.S. forces killed Soleimani two days later. Iran responded by firing dozens of missiles at a U.S. air base in western Iraq, injuring dozens of U.S. troops.
“It’s time for us to leave. We owe it to our soldiers,” Massie said. “They signed up to protect our country. They didn’t sign up to be the world’s policemen.”
Get out and finally put an end to Daddy Bush’s doomed endeavor. Are we one whit safer after 30+ years of troops on the ground there? No. One could argue that we are substantially less safe.
It's TIME to DownSize DC!
Restore the Constitution!Size DC!
Then conquer we must
When our cause it is just
And let this be our motto
“In God is Our Trust”
Iraq was beaten but never conquered. I do not believe that our armed forces, made up as they are by our people, are capable of conquest any more, and, in that light, we should avoid any more foreign wars, since they cannot end except in defeat.
Better idea.
Give the UN 24 hours to vacate the UN compound in NYC and leave our soil.
LOL!
Wasn’t that one of Goldwater’s slogans: “ Get the UN out of the US”.
Could have been. It’s even more imperative today than it was back then.
Amen.
The entire reason for being there was to block out Iran—and flank them through Afghanistan.
It guess it worked. But do we need to do that anymore?
True. Also, how does one even define “conquering Iraq?” It’s no longer Muslim? It has an actual functioning republican system? It’s good friends with Israel? No real goal was ever defined.
There was no clear objective beyond ousting Hussein and capturing any WMDs. It just devolved into another pointless morass. Provided lots of campaign medals and defense dollars, though. Those were the actual goals. Money for the Arms Industry and medals and ribbons so that the careerists could get their tickets punched.
Because government
Actually, I defined it at the time:
1) 50 year occupation under an American governor with unlimited authority
2) Take the children away from their parents, educate them in a westernized school that taught Christianity as foundational
3) During the occupation, seize the oil as the property of the US and UK governmnets and sell it to pay our costs.
I defined it IN OPPOSITION to war in Iraq, to point out what "winning" would involve.
I do miss the good old days when Iraq and Iran were slaughtering each other year after year.
One could argue that penguins can fly too.
Ohohoho so clever. Maybe explain how we are safer now instead of puerile insults.
There was no insult. Laugh a little. It’s healthy.
Eighteen years ago the left referred to that as Bush's Quagmire.
Every military venture should result in total victory, or don't get involved.
Let’s sell California instead
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