Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002


The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, informally known as the Iraq Resolution, is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No. 107-243, authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against Saddam Hussein's Iraq government in what would be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Contents

The resolution cited many factors as justifying the use of military force against Iraq:
The resolution "supported" and "encouraged" diplomatic efforts by President George W. Bush to "strictly enforce through the U.N. Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq" and "obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion, and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq."
The resolution authorized President Bush to use the Armed Forces of the United States "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" in order to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq."

Passage

An authorization by Congress was sought by President George W. Bush soon after his September 12, 2002 statement before the U.N. General Assembly asking for quick action by the Security Council in enforcing the resolutions against Iraq.
Of the legislation introduced by Congress in response to President Bush's requests, sponsored by Sen. Daschle and Sen. Lott was based on the original White House proposal authorizing the use of force in Iraq, sponsored by Rep. Hastert and Rep. Gephardt and the substantially similar sponsored by Sen. Lieberman were modified proposals. sponsored by Rep. Hastings was a separate proposal never considered on the floor. Eventually, the Hastert–Gephardt proposal became the legislation Congress focused on.

Passage of the full resolution

Introduced in Congress on October 2, 2002, in conjunction with the Administration's proposals, passed the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. EDT on October 10, 2002, by a vote of 296-133, and passed the Senate after midnight early Friday morning, at 12:50 a.m. EDT on October 11, 2002, by a vote of 77-23. It was signed into law as by President Bush on October 16, 2002.

United States House of Representatives

PartyAyesNaysNot
Voting
Republican21562
Democratic811261
Independent010
TOTALS2961333

Sens. Baucus,
Bayh,
Biden,
Breaux,
Cantwell,
Carnahan,
Carper,
Cleland,
Clinton,
Daschle,
Dodd,
Dorgan,
Edwards,
Feinstein,
Harkin,
Hollings,
Johnson,
Kerry,
Kohl,
Landrieu,
Lieberman,
Lincoln,
Miller,
Nelson,
Nelson,
Reid,
Rockefeller,
Schumer, and
Torricelli.
Sens. Akaka,
Bingaman,
Boxer,
Byrd,
Conrad,
Corzine,
Dayton,
Durbin,
Feingold,
Graham,
Inouye,
Kennedy,
Leahy,
Levin,
Mikulski,
Murray,
Reed,
Sarbanes,
Stabenow,
Wellstone, and
Wyden.

The Lee Amendment

The Spratt Amendment

The House Rules Amendment

Amendments offered to the Senate Resolution

The Byrd Amendments

The Levin Amendment

The Durbin Amendment

Legal challenges

U.S. law

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit refused to review the legality of the invasion in 2003, citing a lack of ripeness.
In early 2003, the Iraq Resolution was challenged in court to stop the invasion from happening. The plaintiffs argued that the President does not have the authority to declare war. The final decision came from a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit which dismissed the case. Judge Lynch wrote in the opinion that the Judiciary cannot intervene unless there is a fully developed conflict between the President and Congress or if Congress gave the President "absolute discretion" to declare war.
Similar efforts to secure judicial review of the invasion's legality have been dismissed on a variety of justiciability grounds.

International law

There have been no findings by any legal tribunal with both legal authority and legal jurisdiction that any laws were violated. There are only two legal tribunals with both authority and jurisdiction to make such a finding: The US federal courts and the United Nations. Advisory opinions are prohibited in US Courts and are also prohibited by the UN Charter unless the security council authorizes them. There are no relevant advisory opinions or legal finding regarding the legality. The United Nations security council has made no findings on the issues. Importantly, the UK and the United States, the two aggressor nations, are permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto powers. Thus, it’s unlikely any legal determination can ever be made while the UK and the US are in the council as they would veto such a vote. The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has clearly stated that according to the UN charter the invasion was a war crime.

International law: right of pre-emptive self defense

There is no requirement in international law that the United States seek permission to initiate any war of self-defense. "The United States government has argued, wholly apart from Resolution 1441, that it has a right of pre-emptive self-defense to protect itself from terrorism fomented by Iraq. Although this position has been intensively criticized, without any legal finding for support, claims for legality or illegality are merely debates. To prove illegality it would first be necessary to prove that the US did not meet the conditions of necessity and proportionality and that the right of pre-emptive defense did not apply. In September 2004, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, reiterated his opinion “that it was not in conformity with the UN Charter" and "it was illegal".

U.N. security council resolutions

Debate about the legality of the 2003 invasion of Iraq under international law, centers around ambiguous language in parts of U.N. Resolution 1441. The U.N. Charter in Article 39 states: "The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security".
The position of the U.S. and U.K. is that the invasion was authorized by a series of U.N. resolutions dating back to 1990 and that since the U.N. security council has made no Article 39 finding of illegality that no illegality exists.
Resolution 1441 declared that Iraq was in "material breach" of the cease-fire under U.N. Resolution 687, which required cooperation with weapons inspectors. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties states that under certain conditions, a party may invoke a "material breach" to suspend a multilateral treaty. Thus, the U.S. and U.K. claim that they used their right to suspend the cease-fire in Resolution 687 and to continue hostilities against Iraq under the authority of U.N. Resolution 678, which originally authorized the use of force after Iraq invaded Kuwait. This is the same argument that was used for Operation Desert Fox in 1998. They also contend that, while Resolution 1441 required the UNSC to assemble and assess reports from the weapons inspectors, it was not necessary for the UNSC to reach an agreement on the course of action. If, at that time, it was determined that Iraq breached Resolution 1441, the resolution did not "constrain any member state from acting to defend itself against the threat posed by Iraq".
It remains unclear whether any party other than the Security Council can make the determination that Iraq breached Resolution 1441, as U.N. members commented that it is not up to one member state to interpret and enforce U.N. resolutions for the entire council.
In addition, other nations have stated that a second resolution was required to initiate hostilities. The vast majority of international legal scholarship contended that the war was an illegal war of aggression, and Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General, expressed the belief that the war in Iraq was an "illegal act that contravened the U.N. charter."