US Congress chips away at law used to justify Soleimani strike

House of Representatives votes to repeal the 2002 authorisation of the Iraq war as President Biden backs a review of US posture.

The House of Representatives has voted to repeal the United States’ 2002 declaration of war against Iraq, a law used by former President Donald Trump to justify the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Thursday’s action, coming on a bipartisan vote of 268 to 161, now must be approved by the Senate and will accelerate Congress’s reassessment of the US military posture in the Middle East with President Joe Biden’s backing. The Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) had been granted to former President George W Bush in 2002 enabling the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.