WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden announced on Friday that he was replacing the decades-old authorization for the use of military force in the Middle East, a little over a week after relying on the authorization to to take revenge on Iran. supported militia in eastern Syria.
The Biden government announced its position after a dual bill was introduced earlier this week that would revoke the 1991 and 2002 warnings for Iraq in which presidents of both parties rely for legal justification for carrying out strikes in the region.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was committed to working with Congress to ‘ensure that the authorization for the use of military force currently in the books is replaced with a narrow and specific framework that will ensure that we can protect Americans from terrorist threats as they end. the eternal wars. ”
Biden called for a two-way setback last week after ordering strikes against facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah. The strikes were in response to a rocket attack aimed at U.S. troops and civilian personnel in northern Iraq earlier in February without first seeking congressional approval. The U.S. has blamed the military for numerous attacks on US personnel and interests in Iraq in the past.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a major sponsor of the bill, said the dependence on the decades-old authority to use military force “serves no operational purpose, keeps us on a permanent war footing and undermines Iraq’s sovereignty.”
“The airstrikes in Syria last week show that the Executive Branch, regardless of the party, will continue to expand its military,” said Kaine, a Democrat in Virginia.
Administration officials defend the airstrikes as legal and appropriate, saying they are taking out facilities containing valuable “capabilities” used by Iranian-backed military groups to attack US and allied forces in Iraq.
But several leading members of Congress, including members of Biden’s own party, denounced the strikes – the first military action he approved. Kaine and others argued that offensive military action without the approval of Congress is not constitutionally absent extraordinary circumstances.
The White House has shown support for replacing the authorization, even though it warned that the U.S. could consider military action following a rocket attack earlier this week that hit an air base in western Iraq that houses U.S. and coalition troops. A U.S. contractor has been killed after at least 10 rockets struck the base early Wednesday.
“If we think further response is justified, we will act again in a way and time we choose,” Psaki said.