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In practice, presidents from George W. Bush to Donald Trump cited the 2002 AUMF to justify military strikes against terrorist groups, including ISIS. President Barack Obama relied on it to defend operations in Iraq and Syria, while Trump used it to rationalize the 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Critics said such uses stretched the law far beyond its original scope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The repeal does not affect the 2001 AUMF, passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks, which continues to underpin U.S. counterterrorism operations worldwide. That statute has been invoked to justify military actions in more than a dozen countries, from Afghanistan to Somalia. Lawmakers acknowledged that revisiting the 2001 authorization will be a far more contentious debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
International observers are watching closely. Analysts say the repeal signals to allies and adversaries alike that the U.S. is recalibrating its military commitments and seeking to avoid entanglements rooted in past conflicts. \u201cIt\u2019s a message that America is turning the page on Iraq,\u201d said Michael O\u2019Hanlon, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution. \u201cBut the bigger question is whether Congress will have the courage to tackle the 2001 AUMF, which is the true backbone of the global war on terror.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House has expressed support for the repeal, noting that the authorizations are no longer necessary for current operations. Administration officials emphasized that U.S. forces retain the authority to defend themselves and respond to threats under existing law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For many lawmakers, the vote was as much about symbolism as substance. \u201cThis is about accountability,\u201d said Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky. \u201cIf we are going to send our sons and daughters into harm\u2019s way, Congress should have the courage to debate and vote on it, not hide behind authorizations written decades ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Timeline of the Iraq AUMFs:<\/strong> WASHINGTON (FN) \u2014 In a rare show of bipartisan unity, the U.S. Senate voted 77\u201320 to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs), long\u2011standing measures that provided the legal basis for the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The move, embedded in the annual defense bill, marks a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,458],"tags":[1656,1662,1657,1661,1658,1654,1664,1389,1660],"class_list":["post-24480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-legal","tag-aumf-repeal","tag-bipartisan-legislation","tag-congressional-war-powers","tag-constitutional-authority","tag-defense-bill-2025","tag-iraq-war-authorization","tag-us-foreign-policy","tag-us-senate","tag-war-powers-reform"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/us-capitol-night-photo-print.jpg?fit=2400%2C872&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24480"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24494,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24480\/revisions\/24494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
1991 \u2014 Congress authorizes the Gulf War against Iraq after Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait.
2002 \u2014 Authorization clears the way for the U.S.\u2011led invasion of Iraq.
2003\u20132011 \u2014 Used to justify occupation and counterinsurgency campaigns.
2014 \u2014 Invoked by President Obama to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
2017\u20132019 \u2014 Trump administration cites it for operations against ISIS affiliates.
2020 \u2014 Trump uses it to justify the drone strike on Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
2021\u20132024 \u2014 Bipartisan calls for repeal intensify.
2025 \u2014 Senate votes 77\u201320 to repeal both authorizations, closing a chapter on America\u2019s Iraq war powers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"